Conference 7.286::macintosh

TidBITS#363/27-Jan-97
=====================

  Apple's market share is down, but what exactly does that mean? In
  this issue, we explore the seemingly random statistics about sales
  of operating systems. Also this week, Geoff Duncan examines pros,
  cons, and changes in Apple's brand-new Mac OS 7.6, we look back to
  Macworld with some reader responses, and we note new versions of
  NetPresenz and UserLand Frontier, plus a significant beta release
  of Eudora.

Topics:
    MailBITS/27-Jan-97
    Mac OS Hardware Market Flat?
    Responses to a Macworld Newbie
    Apple Ships Mac OS 7.6

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MailBITS/27-Jan-97
------------------

**Eudora Light/Pro Updated** -- Qualcomm has released version
  3.0.2b7 of Eudora Light and Pro. We seldom write about beta
  releases of software, thanks to the hyperactive release habits of
  Internet software, but this beta fixes some potentially annoying
  problems, such as an extra line when typing and most notably,
  nickname file corruption, caused in at least one case by dragging
  nicknames into a closed nickname file. The downloads are 1.5 MB
  (for Eudora Pro) and 2 MB (for Eudora Light), and you can only
  install the Eudora Pro beta if you already have Eudora Pro 3.0 or
  3.0.1 installed. [ACE]

<http://www.eudora.com/mac302b.html>


**NetPresenz 4.1 Released and Discussed** -- Peter Lewis of
  Stairways Software has released version 4.1 of NetPresenz , a
  popular Web, FTP, and Gopher server. The main area of improvement
  centers on increased stability under heavy load conditions, but
  the Web server now includes enhanced CGI support, CGI
  authentication, and server-side includes for creating dynamic Web
  pages. You still can't beat NetPresenz's price at $10, and 4.1 is
  a free upgrade for users who registered after 01-Jan-96. Users who
  registered prior to that date can upgrade for $5.

<http://www.stairways.com/netpresenz/>

  Stairways also announced two new mailing lists for discussing
  NetPresenz and Anarchie. To subscribe, send email to either
  <netpresenz-on@list.stairways.com> or <anarchie-
  on@list.stairways.com>. Since the lists use same kind of on/off
  addresses we established for managing subscriptions to TidBITS, no
  commands are necessary. You can also sign up via a Web form for
  these and other lists that Stairways runs. [ACE]

<http://www.stairways.com/mailinglists/>


**Not the Final Frontier** -- Frontier, from UserLand Software,
  has been updated to version 4.2. A powerful, fast Mac scripting
  environment, Frontier 4.2 features significantly refined Web site
  management tools (including NewsPage for constantly-updating
  pages), improved macro processing, live HTML editing in Frontier's
  built-in outliner, support for making MCF site maps (see
  TidBITS-355_), a useful suite of Finder scripts for webmasters
  and authors (delivered via Leonard Rosenthol's OSA Menu), and
  tight integration with WebSTAR 2.0. Frontier is still free; the
  curious can get a good sense of it by studying the online
  documentation. [MN]

<http://www.scripting.com/frontier/>


Mac OS Hardware Market Flat?
----------------------------
  by Matt Deatherage <mattd@gcsf.com>

  A variety of market research firms recently released current
  statistics and future predictions for the computer industry, and
  the warhorse Mac OS gets mixed-to-negative marks for the future -
  depending on who you ask and what you ask.

  While most U.S. computer makers are expected to post fairly
  healthy profits for the fourth calendar quarter of 1996, all
  analysts agree that PC sales, especially in the U.S. and Europe,
  are lower than expected. IBM and Hewlett Packard are expected to
  do fine, being large, global, diversified companies, and Compaq is
  recovering nicely from last year's bad inventory management and
  weak first half. Apple, on the other hand, posted a $120 million
  loss for the same quarter, but says the shortfall is almost
  entirely due to lack of PowerBooks to sell and lack of U.S. buyers
  for Performas.

  Regarding this news, an Oppenheimer & Co. analyst told The Wall
  Street Journal that Apple's operating system is "out of gas" and
  that people are picking Windows over the Macintosh because there
  are more Windows titles available - and further, Apple will begin
  to lose ground in the education market (with no data or reasons to
  back that assertion).

  International Data Corporation (IDC) released early estimates for
  1996 operating system shipments. The company pointed out that
  Windows 95 fell short of projected units, and that "many corporate
  users delayed migrating to the newer operating systems," meaning
  Windows 95 and Windows NT. Not that the gains weren't spectacular
  - Windows 95 was responsible for 63 percent of all worldwide OS
  units in 1996, but that was still 9.3 percent less than projected.
  Windows NT grew 303 percent, which was still 32 percent short of
  expectations. IDC's "market observations" said "Apple clones have
  yet to translate into increased market share," and "Apple must
  introduce a fully multitasking operating system which is highly
  compatible with its current Mac OS and recapture its technology
  leadership in order to improve its position. Apple's recent
  announcement of the acquisition of NeXT Software and its plans to
  incorporate NeXT technology in future operating systems does not
  fully address this need."

<http://www.idcresearch.com/HNR/pcopso.htm>

  Given all this negativity in IDC's report, how bad were Mac OS
  sales actually? Down from 6.8 percent to 6.6 percent of all units
  shipped. Compare this to OS/2, which lost nearly half its market
  share in the same period.


**Mac OS Market Share** -- Part of the problem is conflicting
  definitions. Most of the doom-and-gloom reports in the media about
  falling market share refer specifically to Apple Computer. Since
  1995, that doesn't tell the story of the Mac OS market, because
  companies other than Apple now sell Mac OS computers. But since
  that's a recent development, there's a real tendency to think that
  Macintosh market share and Mac OS market share are the same thing.
  They aren't.

  Market share, for the uninitiated, is the percentage of all new
  sales in a given category that belong to one particular company.
  To be technically correct, market share must be measured in a
  given time period, but it's usually referred to in the present
  tense as an estimate of what a company's sales are compared to its
  competitors right now. IDC's report said that 6.6 percent of all
  personal computer operating system sales in 1996 were Mac OS
  purchases, down from 6.8 percent in 1995. It's interesting to note
  that this figure does not include upgrades, only new licenses to
  new computer owners - so it's a way of measuring the market share
  of the hardware capable of running Mac OS.

  Two-tenths of a percent decline isn't very much - by IDC's
  numbers, we're talking about a drop of about 150,000 units on
  yearly volume of five million. In 1995, IDC says there were 4.5
  million Mac OS licenses sold, so how can five million be a
  decline? The operating system market is growing, that's how! Mac
  OS sales grew too, but not as fast as the other market segments
  did. To stay at 6.6 percent of sales, Mac OS shipments should have
  reached 5.15 million. They didn't, hence the drop in market share
  concurrent with a growth in overall sales.

  As long as IDC's statistical certainty is greater than 0.2 percent
  (and it probably is, although it's not a given), Mac OS sales were
  statistically flat in 1996. Yet press reports, and Apple Computer
  itself, continually refer to declining sales, not flat or slower-
  growth sales.


**Send In the Clones** -- Mac OS clone makers account for some of
  the gains, and most likely for some of the lost sales Apple
  experienced. A NEWS.COM story looked at the big four clone makers
  - Daystar Digital, Motorola, Power Computing, and UMAX - to find
  out what makes each of them tick. As part of the report, NEWS.COM
  says that IDC's competitor, Dataquest, estimates that Mac OS
  clones comprised 8.5 percent of U.S. Macintosh market share during
  the third quarter of 1996.

<http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,6931,00.html>

  Dataquest's number isn't valid for the entire year, obviously, but
  it makes things more interesting. If Apple's U.S. market share in
  the fourth quarter was about 7.3 percent, as has been estimated by
  one source, then adding other Mac OS sales to the mix raises
  overall Mac OS market share to 7.9 percent. That's still far short
  of the 13.2 percent Apple had a year earlier, but few people can
  be blamed, in the current press climate, for being skittish about
  buying a Mac. The total market share is probably higher than 7.9
  percent - I cheated and applied third-quarter clone numbers to
  fourth-quarter Apple numbers. Clone numbers were likely to be
  higher in the last quarter due to the arrival of machines from
  Motorola (and APS), which do not seem to have cannibalized other
  Mac OS purchases.

  Motorola is known to have shipped at least 40,000 StarMax clones
  in its first eight weeks of production, and a Motorola marketing
  executive told NEWS.COM that the company "suspects" a quarter of
  the buyers are first-time Mac OS purchasers. Motorola is staying
  out of the retail market so far because they initially got a late
  start, but now they don't have the facilities to handle the volume
  of sales they expect a retail unit would generate.

  UMAX, on the other hand, shipped 100,000 units in the last six
  months of 1996 - numbers for Power Computing aren't available but
  could, according to a previous Tim Bajarin estimate, top 500,000
  units in 1996. DayStar Digital's numbers are smaller, in the
  3,000-unit area, because they make high-end systems with fat
  profit margins - the four-processor 200 MHz 604e box is for a
  specialized market, especially at $10,000 apiece.

  [Note: Apple just released some additional information on clone
  sales, giving Power Computing credit for more than 100,000 sales
  during its first year. -Adam]

<http://www.devworld.apple.com/devnews/devnews012797.html>

  Both UMAX and Motorola believe they can achieve 10 percent of the
  Mac OS market by the year 2000. This is good news for Apple if and
  only if they achieve this by expanding the Mac OS market. UMAX in
  particular is committed to this - with a parent company located in
  Taiwan, UMAX believes that Asian markets are right for Mac OS
  technology, and they're in on the ground floor. The company told
  NEWS.COM they expect to increase Mac OS sales in Taiwan by 300
  percent, and by even more in areas like Southeast Asia and parts
  of China. That's exactly what Apple needs to hear, and if all
  clone makers pull off similar market expansions, it will have been
  worth weathering the early years of cloning when clone sales are
  eating away at Apple's own market share.


**What Does It Mean?** What no market research firm has yet
  released are continuing studies where Mac OS market share is
  tracked, on a hardware level, separately from Macintosh (Apple
  Computer's) market share. When OS sales are used as a benchmark,
  IDC's numbers show nearly no change in market share from 1995 to
  1996, despite the absolute beating Apple took in the press and in
  consumer confidence, month after month. That's a reasonably worthy
  achievement. IDC phrases it as "Mac OS clones have yet to increase
  market share," but given that everyone believed Mac OS market
  share was falling, it's not bad at all.

  It's also a good idea to remember that the non-Mac OS market is
  not unified. According to the eighth Computer Industry Almanac,
  there are about 25 million Macintosh machines out there as of Q3
  1996 (Apple says 26 million), about 180 million DOS users, 130
  million Windows 3.x users and 53 million users of Windows 95/NT.
  Each of these operating systems has a slightly different
  programmer interface - code written for Windows 3.x will run in a
  kind of emulation under Windows NT, but the reverse isn't true. If
  Apple's plans (depending on who you ask) to release Rhapsody for
  non-PowerPC hardware pan out, developers could find themselves
  with an easy way to write a Mac OS program and have it available
  on all these newer Windows machines as well. That would
  undoubtedly bring more developers to the Mac OS platform, and more
  software for Mac OS means more sales, according to IDC's theories.

  Clearly Apple has to get their act in gear - without a good Mac OS
  to license, clone sales will eventually fall by the wayside no
  matter how aggressive the offerings are. Individual Mac OS clone
  makers are too small to show on the market research radar scope,
  so stories tend to focus on Apple - whose losses for the fourth
  quarter resulted from a combination of tepid marketing, less shelf
  space, overall lower-than-expected PC sales, and a crisis in
  consumer confidence. Yet the clone makers are here, and are doing
  well (Power Computing turned a profit in its first full quarter),
  and it shows in the sales numbers, although you sometimes must dig
  a little to find the not-bad news.

  [This article is reprinted and updated with permission from MDJ, a
  daily Macintosh publication covering news, products, and events in
  the Macintosh world. If you can't get enough insightful Mac news,
  sign up for a trial subscription to MDJ. For TidBITS readers who
  want to subscribe, there's a special limited-time rate of $11.95
  per month (20 percent off). For more information, visit the MDJ
  Web site.]

<http://www.gcsf.com/tidbits.html>


Responses to a Macworld Newbie
------------------------------
  by Jeff Carlson <jeffc@tidbits.com>

  Tuesday was a good email day. After running "Impressions of a
  Macworld Newbie" article in TidBITS-362_ (my first TidBITS
  article), I received a steady stream of comments and words of
  welcome from readers around the world.

  In particular, several people commented on my advice that new
  attendees refrain from picking up every freebie in sight, and
  others reacted to my mention of Steve Jobs's "Reality Distortion
  Field."


**Suzanne Courteau** <suzanne_courteau@macworld.com> writes:
  First, I left my press bag at my office. In my jacket pocket I
  carried pens and business cards. When I ran across a truly fab
  product, it was easy enough to write a note on a business card
  asking the product manager or PR manager to send it to me at my
  office. I got all my information delivered to me and suffered
  absolutely no back or feet problems.


**Adam L. Pollock** <alp@umich.edu> takes a decidedly cumbersome
  approach:
  As far as picking up every pen, CD, disk, etc., this was certainly
  my goal. I was also hunting for t-shirts - at the end of the show
  I ran around asking for freebies and trades and amassed about
  twelve!


**Jack C. Kobzeff** <jack.c.kobzeff@jpl.nasa.gov> observes:
  I felt that Jobs's Reality Distortion Field was only running at
  half strength this time. I saw him in the early Mac days and as
  NeXT was getting started, and back then he could sell snow to
  Eskimos. He was incredible during the NeXT presentations, getting
  suit-and-tie executives excited about a box with no applications
  and no floppy disk. This time, I'm not sure if he's just older,
  too rich, or doesn't quite have his heart into the Apple deal, but
  he didn't have quite the same level of RDF. It was there; just
  weaker.


Apple Ships Mac OS 7.6
----------------------
  by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>

  Today, Apple shipped Mac OS 7.6, an all-encompassing system
  software release that includes a few new features, a significant
  set of changes under the hood, and a collection of Apple
  technologies that were previously available for free. Mac OS 7.6
  is not free and is not available for downloading. At over 120 MB
  for the CD-ROM version, that's probably good.

<http://www.macos.apple.com/macos/releases.html>

  Mac OS 7.6 provides a much-needed baseline for system software.
  Prior to 7.6, installing the latest version of the Mac OS could be
  an arduous task, involving two or three system software
  installations, plus installations for technologies like OpenDoc
  and Open Transport. Mac OS 7.6 eliminates many of these steps and
  helps minimize confusion over various flavors of System 7.5.
  Furthermore, Apple actually did what it promised: shipped an
  update to the Mac OS in January of 1997.

  On the down side, enthusiasm for Mac OS 7.6 has been
  underwhelming, largely due to the lack of new gee-whiz features
  Apple has been promising for years. Mac OS 7.6 does not include a
  multi-threaded, PowerPC-native Finder, a fast, full-text search
  engine, active assistance, the fabled Appearance Manager (which
  provides highly-customizable desktop themes), or integrated Java
  support. All these features are now candidates for Tempo, the next
  update, which Apple has scheduled for July of 1997.


**Installing Mac OS 7.6** -- One of Mac OS 7.6's new features is
  Install Mac OS, an umbrella installer for both the core operating
  system and add-ons like OpenDoc, Cyberdog, and QuickDraw GX.
  Install Mac OS has been heralded as a new installer, but it's
  really a shell program that controls installers for individual
  components. Thankfully, Install Mac OS notifies users to update
  their hard disk drivers when installing software (a common problem
  Apple previously covered in ReadMe files, which people usually
  only examine after they've had trouble), and runs Disk First Aid
  before attempting to install any system software. Install Mac OS
  also enables users to create a brand new System Folder or to
  update an existing system, a previously hidden function.

  However, Install Mac OS can also be confusing. When you've told it
  what you want to install, it proceeds to launch old-style
  installers for components, which again ask what you want to do.
  So, if you choose to install Mac OS 7.6, OpenDoc, and QuickDraw
  3D, you're first presented with the Mac OS 7.6 installer, then the
  OpenDoc installer, and finally the QuickDraw 3D installer. By the
  time you reach the second installer, you may have forgotten how
  you got there or what's coming next.

  Apple has changed individual installer applications too, most
  notably the Mac OS 7.6 custom install, which now groups components
  in functional categories (such as Mobility, Multimedia, and
  Assistance) in addition to categories like Control Panels and
  Extensions. Unfortunately, this means that individual items (such
  as PC Exchange) appear in more than one section, and selecting an
  item in one category doesn't select it the others, creating
  confusion as to whether something will be installed.


**What's Included** -- In addition to the core system software,
  Mac OS 7.6 ships with QuickTime 2.5, OpenDoc 1.1.2, Cyberdog
  1.2.1, QuickDraw 3D 1.0.6, QuickDraw GX 1.1.5, MacLink Plus 8.1
  (from DataViz), Open Transport 1.1.1, Open Transport/PPP 1.0,
  Remote Access Client 2.1, and version 1.2 of the Apple Internet
  Connection Kit.

  You may note Mac OS 7.6 isn't shipping with QuickDraw 3D 1.5 and
  Open Transport 1.1.2. Why not? The simple answer is scheduling:
  coordinating over 100 MB of material from (literally) dozens of
  different product groups within Apple is no simple thing. Apple
  probably set absolute deadlines for product units in order to make
  Mac OS 7.6 ship on time. This is in keeping with Apple's
  incremental update policy, where individual technologies - like
  Cyberdog, Open Transport, and QuickTime - will be upgraded
  separately between major releases of the Mac OS for users who need
  the latest versions as soon as possible.

  However, this situation can create hassles for users who try to
  keep up with Apple technologies. If you've already installed Open
  Transport 1.1.2, the Mac OS 7.6 installer will complain
  (repeatedly) that you're replacing a newer version of Open
  Transport. If you want to use Open Transport 1.1.2, you must
  reinstall it after installing Mac OS 7.6. Classic networking isn't
  supported under Mac OS 7.6, so you must use Open Transport. Though
  these problems primarily affect users knowledgeable enough to
  understand the situation - power users, programmers, and Mac
  loyalists - it isn't making Apple many friends.


**What's New** -- Aside from the new installer, Mac OS 7.6
  includes Extensions Manager 4.0, a significant improvement over
  earlier versions. In addition to enabling users to manage system
  extensions and extension sets, Extensions Manager 4.0 also
  features an updated interface (with sorting capabilities) plus the
  ability to view extensions as a flat set, by folder, or by
  package. The latter is particularly useful, since it enables users
  to identify and turn on or off all related parts of a complex set,
  like Now Utilities or OpenDoc. Software vendors may need to update
  their system extensions to identify what package they belong to,
  but a surprising number of system components already have this
  information. Extensions Manager 4.0 doesn't track down extension
  conflicts like Casady & Greene's Conflict Catcher, but it can
  export a detailed text file listing your extension configuration.

  Mac OS 7.6 also includes a few new convenience items, such as
  Desktop Printing 2.0.2, which lets you move desktop printers off
  the desktop into folders. You can also switch between desktop
  printers using a new control strip module and within the Print
  dialog box (although I'm not sure if the latter requires
  LaserWriter 8.4). Also, tucked away in the Speech Control Panel is
  a feature called Talking Alerts, which enables text-to-speech
  software to read the text of onscreen alerts after a user-defined
  period of time - a potentially handy feature for the visually
  impaired or for people who need to have their Macs shout to them
  from across the room. Unfortunately, Talking Alerts only functions
  on modal alert messages.

  Also, the classic FKEY (PictWhap) that enabled you to take
  snapshots of your Macintosh screen has been updated. Command-
  Shift-4 no longer sends a screen capture to a printer: now, the
  key combination lets you select a portion of your screen to be
  saved as a file; further, if Caps Lock is down, the cursor changes
  to a bull's-eye and you can take a screen shot of just about any
  window you can click. Pressing Command-Shift-3 still causes your
  Mac to take a picture of your entire screen, but (with either key
  combination) pressing Control puts the picture into the clipboard
  instead of in a file on the top level of your startup drive. These
  features don't compete with screen shot utilities like Nobu Toge's
  venerable shareware Flash-It, but they'll be a boon to tech
  writers everywhere.

<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gst/grf/flash-it-302.hqx>

  There are also a number of low-level changes in Mac OS 7.6.
  PowerPC and 68040 Macs can now support volume sizes up to two
  terabytes, many earlier updates and system extensions have been
  rolled into the system file, Apple events can now carry more than
  64K of data, and improvements throughout the system significantly
  enhance stability. Two memory management changes are noteworthy:
  first, 24-bit machines (the Mac II, IIx, SE/30, and IIcx) that
  previously used Connectix's MODE32 aren't supported under Mac OS
  7.6. Similarly, machines with a 68000 or 68020 processor are no
  longer supported, including the Plus, SE, Classic, Portable, LC,
  and PowerBook 100. Also, PowerPC-based Macs can only run the
  Modern Memory Manager under Mac OS 7.6: support for the old 68K
  Memory Manager is no longer available.

  Users will also notice that references to Macintosh are being
  changed to Mac OS, and the familiar About this Macintosh item in
  the Finder now reads About this Computer. Similarly, the much-
  loved Welcome to Macintosh display that appears when a machine
  first starts up has been suppressed in favor of a more modern (and
  more generic) Mac OS logo.


**What's Missing** -- Mac OS 7.6 does not include Mac OS Runtime
  for Java (MRJ), something Apple promised when it announced its
  biannual update plan. Apple just completed MRJ 1.0 for PowerPC; a
  version for 68K-based machines is promised shortly.

<http://www.applejava.apple.com/>

  Mac OS 7.6 no longer supports PowerTalk, Apple's pioneering but
  now-defunct email and workgroup software. If you need PowerTalk's
  capabilities, you have little choice but to stick to your current
  system software. Programmers and power users should also note that
  Mac OS 7.6 requires MacsBug 6.5.4, which is not yet publicly
  available.

  The most significant missing element of Mac OS 7.6 is support for
  CFM-68K. The CFM-68K extension is required on 68K Macs in order to
  run a smattering of current applications including: OpenDoc,
  Cyberdog, LaserWriter 8.4, Apple Media Tool, AOL 3.0, and Internet
  Explorer 3.0. Apple recently discovered a serious bug in CFM-68K,
  and recommends that owners of 68K Macs disable it (see
  TidBITS-356_.). Mac OS 7.6 removes even the option of running
  CFM-68K for risk takers who want to run CFM-68K-dependent
  software. Fortunately, there are workarounds for developers to
  test CFM-68K under Mac OS 7.6, and a patch may be available soon
  (two potential fixes are currently being tested by Apple).


**Availability** -- You can purchase Mac OS 7.6 directly from
  Claris, and it should be available in traditional channels
  (including mail-order and online vendors) shortly. From Claris,
  Mac OS 7.6 costs $99 on CD-ROM, and $129 on floppy disks. If you
  can prove you purchased a version of System 7.5 (either on its own
  or with a computer), you can upgrade for $69, or $99 on floppy. If
  you recently bought a Mac that didn't ship with 7.6, you may
  qualify for a $24 upgrade through Apple's Mac OS Up-To-Date
  program (details at the URL below). None of these prices includes
  shipping, handling, and tax: a typical $69 CD-ROM upgrade from
  Claris will total more than $80.

<http://www.macos.apple.com/macos/releases/fulfillment.html>

  At this time, we have no information about the availability of
  localized versions of Mac OS 7.6.


**Should You Buy Mac OS 7.6?** Mac OS 7.6 would be more appealing
  at a lower price - Apple would do well to re-examine discounted
  upgrade pricing (or possibly subscription-based pricing aimed at
  non-corporate users). If you own a Power Macintosh and like to
  keep up with cutting-edge applications, Mac OS 7.6 could be
  beneficial. If you're happy with your current setup or own a 68K
  Mac, Mac OS 7.6 is much less compelling, and you may wish to wait
  for Tempo to ship in July. If you manage a lab or set of Macs,
  however, System 7.6's all-encompassing installer should prove to
  be a real time-saver.


$$

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TidBITS#364/03-Feb-97
=====================

  Is text dead? Not at all! In this issue, we look at Palimpsest, a
  tool for managing large volumes of text; CopyPaste, a multiple
  clipboard utility; and Natural Order, an extension that (finally!)
  sorts text and file names like a person would. Also in this issue,
  readers respond to the new crop of HTML editors, Speed Doubler
  gets an important update for Mac OS 7.6, Be stops making the
  BeBox, and Apple announces major internal changes, price cuts, and
  a Rhapsody kernel.

Topics:
    MailBITS/03-Feb-97
    HTMLbits: Following up on Free Placement
    The Natural Order of Things
    CopyPaste: A Scoffer No More
    Palimpsest 1.1 - Is There a Document in the House?

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-364.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#364_03-Feb-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of hard drives, tape drives, and neat SCSI accessories.
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* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
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* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS#364! <--------- NEW!
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MailBITS/03-Feb-97
------------------

**Apple Price Cuts** -- Last week, Apple announced it had lowered
  dealer prices as much as 27 percent on a wide range of
  Macintoshes. The largest cuts appear in the mid-to-high end of
  Apple's desktop Power Macintosh line, with prices reduced as much
  as $1,000 on Power Mac 8500 and 9500 models; also, the high end of
  the Performa 6400-series has been discounted 15 to 18 percent, and
  Apple's Workgroup Server 7250 and 8550 series are discounted 7 to
  13 percent. Apple is no doubt attempting to boost sales volume
  after an unspectacular holiday season and clear inventory in
  anticipation of new models to be announced later this month. [GD]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/
970131.pr.rel.price.html>


**Apple Layoffs and Reorganization** -- It's been just over a year
  since Apple's last reorganization and major round of layoffs, but
  Apple is expected to announce another sweeping set of changes
  intended to further focus its business model and cut operating
  costs by 25 percent. According to reports, Apple plans to organize
  around three major markets (publishing, education, and the
  Internet), sell off some key assets (including Pippin and possibly
  the Newton division), and lay off 2,000 to 3,000 employees this
  year. In January, Apple said it would announce restructuring plans
  aimed at cutting some $400 million in costs. After losing about
  $900 million during the last year, analysts generally agree Apple
  must reduce its operating costs to hope to return to
  profitability. Bandai says it will continue to upgrade the Pippin
  platform and introduce it to new retail markets in 1997. [GD]


**Mach Speed** -- In a letter to developers last week, Apple's
  Chief Technology Officer Ellen Hancock announced that Apple has
  decided to use the Mach kernel as the foundation for Rhapsody,
  although no other details were given, including which version of
  Mach Apple plans to use. OpenStep is targeted at the Mach 3
  kernel, whereas NeXTstep uses a variant of Mach 2.5. Presumably,
  Apple chose Mach in order to bring Rhapsody to market more
  quickly.

<http://devworld.apple.com/>

  The Mach kernel was originally developed at Carnegie Mellon
  University, and is currently used by many environments, including
  IBM's AIX, Apple's MkLinux project, and Tenon Systems' MachTen
  Unix environment for the Mac. Though most operating systems using
  Mach have been based on Unix, that doesn't necessarily mean
  Rhapsody will have Unix at its heart. [GD]

<http://www.mklinux.apple.com/>
<http://www.tenon.com/>


**Speed Bump for Speed Doubler Users** -- Connectix has identified
  potentially serious problems with using Speed Doubler and Apple's
  Find File under the new Mac OS 7.6. Problems range from innocuous
  ones like Find File not displaying information to scary ones like
  disk catalog errors. Last Friday, Connectix released the Speed
  Doubler 2.0.1 Updater, which corrects the problem for 2.0 users.
  Speed Doubler 1.x users should be able to update to version 1.3.2
  in the very near future; Connectix may have posted the 1.3.2
  Updater by the time you read this text. These releases are both
  U.S. versions; Connectix plans to release localized versions soon.
  Connectix -- 800/839-3632 -- 415/571-5100 -- 415/571-5195 (fax) --
  <info@connectix.com> [TJE]

<http://www.connectix.com/connect/upda.spee.html>


**No More Be Hardware** -- Industry darling Be, Inc. announced
  last week it will stop making its own hardware line - the BeBox -
  and focus purely on developing the BeOS for PowerPC-based
  Macintosh computers. Be points out (rightly) that it's difficult
  for a 50-person company to design hardware and an operating
  system, and the lion's share of their target user and developer
  markets are already using Power Mac hardware. Be promises to
  support current BeBoxes for at least the next three years. [GD]

<http://www.be.com/developers/hardwareplans.html>


**Updated QuickMail Pro** -- CE Software recently announced the
  release of QuickMail Pro 1.0.1, which fixes several bugs and
  improves a few features in the company's POP3 email client. An
  updater for Macintosh users is available at the company's Web
  site, and CE expects to release an updater for Windows later in
  February. [MHA]

<http://www.cesoft.com/quickmail/qmpupdate.html>


**Rev Now Has Online Ordering** -- The folks at 6prime wrote to
  say that they were inundated with orders for Rev after my review
  of their excellent revision control program in TidBITS-362_. To
  better handle the volume, they've scrambled to put an order form
  online at the URL below. The price remains $49.95. Shipping and
  handling (and a bonus mug) is $4 for U.S. and Canadian addresses,
  but if you don't need a disk or mug or are outside of the U.S. or
  Canada, you can save the $4 and go for email delivery. [ACE]

<http://www.6prime.com/rev/revorder.html>


HTMLbits: Following up on Free Placement
----------------------------------------
  by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>

  In TidBITS-362_, I wrote about how several upcoming HTML editors
  use tables or Java to offer free placement of objects. Several
  readers responded with comments about problems with the Web pages
  those editors are likely to produce, and with thoughts about where
  this trend may take us.


**Bill Seitz **<seitz@mail.medscape.com> noted:
  Lots of pages on the Web look stupid to me because I set my
  default font to Palatino 12 instead of the tiny and ugly Times 12.
  Cascading Style Sheets offer some additional placement control
  without resorting to tables, but still target their features to
  publishers attempting exact control over the user's view. I
  sometimes think these people should just make a giant JPEG for
  each page and stop the pretense.


**Brad Kemper **<andrmahr@inreach.com> chimed in as well:
  I think free placement is a disturbing trend, not because of the
  code it produces (I would like not to be concerned with code at
  all), but because fixed-width pages do not account for the
  specific needs of people who read text onscreen. Since the first
  Macs, text has automatically wrapped to fit the size of the
  window. Now, thanks to programs that create Web pages with items
  placed to exact pixel coordinates, we lose this capability.
  Perhaps it is because we are using a page paradigm instead of
  thinking of Web pages as windows or screens of information. We've
  taken a huge step backwards. We should take a hint from people who
  design interfaces for computer programs: good design for monitors
  is different from that for print.


**Sajid Martin **<slmartin@cruzio.com> worried about speed,
  commenting:
  I think an important disadvantage could be that using tables to
  configure the entire page results in much longer page rendering
  times, and slows down scrolling in a browser. But, I think the
  trend to make coding - including scripting - unnecessary may be
  good in the long run for the end user.


The Natural Order of Things
---------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  Here's a silly question. Are the digits between one and nine
  represented by a single character, or by a string of characters?
  In other words, when you type the number one in a filename, do you
  always prefix it with a zero? In all likelihood, a number of
  people are nodding their heads and thinking, "But of course I do
  that, otherwise files with numbers in the names don't sort right."

  We fought with this problem with TidBITS in our early years,
  because although I was clever enough to prefix my single digits
  with a zero to pad them into double-digit numbers, I never
  imagined that TidBITS would be around long enough to hit
  TidBITS-100_, necessitating a mass renaming of the first 99 issues
  to include an additional leading zero to pad everything into
  triple-digit numbers. And even today, we can't imagine that we'll
  be doing TidBITS long enough to need to go to quadruple-digit
  numbers (although stranger things have happened).

  In case you're still wondering what I'm blathering about, here's
  an example. Assume you keep your own collection of TidBITS around,
  but for some reason, you rename them with more natural names. You
  might have the following problem with the first 12 issues when
  viewing them in the Finder.

> TidBITS-1.html
> TidBITS-10.html
> TidBITS-11.html
> TidBITS-12.html
> TidBITS-2.html
> TidBITS-3.html
> TidBITS-4.html
> TidBITS-5.html
> TidBITS-6.html
> TidBITS-7.html
> TidBITS-8.html
> TidBITS-9.html

  The trouble should be obvious - why do issues 10, 11, and 12 sort
  before issue 2? It's because the Macintosh System is messed up,
  that's why. Basically, way back when, someone at Apple decided to
  implement sorting the same way that Unix, DOS, and everything else
  does, by comparing one character at a time, instead of taking into
  account the fact that numbers don't sort in alphabetical order the
  way words do.

  For years, the universal solution has been to prefix single-digit
  numbers with a zero, so they sort before double-digit numbers. As
  the number of digits increase, so must the number of padding
  zeroes. Computers should fit the way humans work and think.
  Instead, when it comes to sorting, humans must fit the way
  computers work.

  No longer. Stuart Cheshire <cheshire@cs.stanford.edu>, author of
  the popular network tank game Bolo, has released a tiny freeware
  extension called Natural Order that overrides how the System sorts
  numeric parts of strings. I won't repeat the example list above,
  but once you install Natural Order (drop it in your Extensions
  folder and reboot), issues 10, 11, and 12 would sort properly to
  the bottom of the list.

  Programs that benefit from Natural Order immediately include the
  Finder (for "View by Name" windows), Standard File Dialogs (in any
  application), and the Chooser (for sorting lists of zones,
  servers, and so on). However, Natural Order works by overriding
  the System's built-in string comparison routines and only benefits
  programs that call those routines. A number of programs implement
  their own sorting mechanisms, so those programs don't benefit from
  Natural Order. A few recent programs (including Anarchie 2.0 and
  Fetch 3.0.2 and later) include Natural Order's sorting routines
  internally so they sort sensibly even without Natural Order
  installed.

  Stuart wants to hear about any programs that do not benefit from
  Natural Order's sorting routines, so he can try to convince the
  programmers of the benefit of making their programs call the
  System's built-in string comparison routines (and thus take
  advantage of Natural Order).

  So, if you're bothered by the way the Mac sorts numeric strings,
  give Natural Order a try. You probably won't even notice it until
  you see a folder containing numbered files.

<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gui/natural-order-11.hqx>
<http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/NaturalOrder.html>


CopyPaste: A Scoffer No More
----------------------------
  by Matt Neuburg <matt@tidbits.com>

  Today I found myself in one of those situations where I had to
  carry several separate pieces of information from one application
  to another. I was building (in Symantec Visual Page) a Web page
  composed of quotes extracted from Web pages (in Netscape
  Navigator). For each quote, I needed the title and author
  (displayed at the top of the page), the extract (somewhere in the
  middle), and the URL (from Navigator's Location field). Now, how
  many times do you think I had to switch between applications to
  create each page? Wrong! For each Web page, I only had to copy the
  information from Navigator and switch to Visual Page _once_ -
  carrying with me the three pieces of information in _three_
  separate clipboards.

  In the middle of this operation I suddenly became conscious of how
  wonderful it was to be able to do this, and had to stop and dash
  off this praise of the extension which gives me not just three but
  ten clipboards - CopyPaste 3.2.2.

  Originally, I scoffed at CopyPaste, feeling about it as I once did
  about drag & drop (crusty, old-timer, Gabby Hayes voice): "Why,
  for years I've been cutting and pasting one thing at a time, and
  it's always been good enough for me!" Besides, early versions of
  CopyPaste crashed certain applications on which I rely. But
  CopyPaste's compatibility has improved tremendously; and now that
  I use it, I use it constantly and automatically.

  The basic functionality of CopyPaste is simple to describe. You
  have ten system-wide clipboards, numbered zero through nine. To
  copy the current selection into clipboard 7, instead of pressing
  Command-C, you press Command-C-7 - without releasing the Command
  key until after you've typed the 7. The same interface applies to
  both cutting and pasting, with Command-X and Command-V. Or, you
  can use the Edit menu, which CopyPaste provides with hierarchical
  menus leading to the ten clipboards, even showing a little snippet
  of what's currently on each one.

  CopyPaste provides some nice extras too. You can archive the
  clipboards as files (one at a time or all at once), and you can
  have clipboards automatically archived at shutdown and restored at
  startup. You can copy the current selection to an append file, an
  option that - for instance - works well for compiling a download
  list while reading the Info-Mac Digest. And there's a windoid that
  shows you the full contents of each clipboard and lets you swap
  clips with one another.

  Other functions do not interest me as much. There's an
  application-switching shortcut I never use because it interferes
  with HyperCard, and something called Tag and Drop that I don't
  even understand. Plus, there are a host of clipboard-massaging
  functions that basically reinvent the Clipboard Magician wheel.
  Luckily, you can turn off unwanted features in a Preferences
  dialog, but personally I find this "don't know when to stop" style
  of programming annoying and ill-advised. What's needed is a
  component approach so code for undesired functions never even
  loads.

<http://www.umich.edu/~archive/mac/system.extensions/da/
clipboardmagician0.76.sit.hqx>

  There are also problems caused by the fact that CopyPaste is an
  undeniable hack. These troubles change from revision to revision:
  partly they involve compatibility, but the main difficulty at
  present is that you lose access to an application's own internal
  scrap mechanism: every time you copy, even if you just press
  Command-C, you copy via CopyPaste. This can be problematic for
  some applications, which may switch to the Finder and back (losing
  time while windows and palettes are taken down, and more time -
  and perhaps information - while the contents of the clipboard are
  converted away from an application's internal format). I would
  much prefer Command-C just performed the application's original
  default copy.

  Nevertheless, the spirit of CopyPaste is commendable, and - once
  you've experienced its utility - you can't fathom why it hasn't
  been built into the System for years. I'd sacrifice all the touted
  functional improvements of Mac OS 7.6 if only it included ten
  clipboards. Meanwhile, at a shareware fee of $20, CopyPaste is a
  bargain-priced way to give your machine a new soul.

<http://members.aol.com/copypaste1/index.html>
<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gui/copy-paste-322.hqx>


Palimpsest 1.1 - Is There a Document in the House?
--------------------------------------------------
  by Matt Neuburg <matt@tidbits.com>

  Readers of TidBITS know of my unabashed obsession with the storage
  and retrieval of information, especially the free-form textual
  information an academic must track and manipulate in order to
  write lectures, books, and articles. So when a new piece of
  software, Palimpsest, turned out to be created especially for
  people like me, it didn't take Nostradamus to predict I'd be
  intrigued. And when Palimpsest turned out to combine word-
  processing elements with features of cool tools like HyperCard,
  Storyspace (see TidBITS-095_), Conc, and FreeText - and written,
  to top it all off, using Prograph (see TidBITS-312_) - I was
  downright interested.

<http://www.umich.edu/~archive/mac/misc/linguistics/conc1.71.cpt.hqx>
<http://www.umich.edu/~archive/mac/hypercard/organization/
freetext1.03.cpt.hqx>

  Palimpsest comes from Western Civilisation, an Australian company.
  It started as a private way of managing thousands of pages of
  legal documents; now it's released to the world for managing,
  investigating, and relating electronic documents generally. (A
  palimpsest is a manuscript that has been rubbed out and written
  over, and no, I didn't have to look it up; I used to be a
  classicist, remember?) You can learn more about Palimpsest at
  their Web site, or download a demo from Info-Mac.

<http://www.westciv.com.au/>
<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/text/>


**The Basic Milieu** -- You use Palimpsest to read, create,
  navigate, and investigate Palimpsest documents. If your documents
  aren't initially Palimpsest documents, you can create a Palimpsest
  document and either paste (or drag & drop) material into it, or
  import material as styled text from SimpleText.

  Using Palimpsest looks and feels rather like using HyperCard. You
  probably will have several windows that look like HyperCard
  stacks, each consisting of one card dominated by a scrolling field
  of styled, editable text. Each "stack" is actually called a
  Section, and Sections are bound together behind the scenes into a
  Document. Each Section can itself be subdivided by Headings.
  Here's how Documents, Sections, and Headings are related:

  A Heading is merely a piece of text to which you have applied the
  Make Heading command. Using a floating windoid called the Heading
  Browser (which displays the Headings in whatever Section is
  frontmost) you can give each Heading a level, so that they appear
  in a hierarchical, outline-like relationship to one another. (This
  hierarchy is purely conceptual; it has no visible analogue within
  the text of the Section itself.) Double-clicking a heading in the
  Heading Browser jumps you to that place in the Section.

  Similarly, a Table of Contents window lists the Sections of the
  Document in a meaningful order, like chapters in a book. You can
  change the order by dragging the Section listings, and each
  Section listing can expand to show the Headings it contains.
  Again, you can double-click a Section or Heading listing in the
  Table of Contents to go there.

  You can also navigate from Section to Section conveniently with a
  pop-up menu in the lower left corner of each Section window, which
  lists all Sections of the Document.


**Section Types and Document Types** -- Sections come in Types,
  which are like HyperCard backgrounds: for instance, if a typical
  Section of a particular Document is of the "Chapter" type, then
  the physical layout of each Chapter Section is identical,
  differing only in the contents of its fields. Documents come in
  Types too, each consisting of the Section types it can contain. At
  any time, you can alter a Document by adding a new Section of any
  type which that type of Document can contain.

  There are also automatic Section types: the Table of Contents is
  itself a Section type, but you can't create a new one; every
  document automatically contains exactly one Table of Contents, as
  well as one Title Page and one Cover. You can, however, modify
  these Sections - for instance, you can paste a picture on the
  Cover.

  A Document Type and the Section Types that constitute it form a
  template instantly affecting all Documents of that type. You can
  modify an existing Document type, or create a new Document type.
  To do so, you draw the layout of its Section types, possibly by
  modifying existing Section types to make the process faster. You
  can change the size of a Section's window (its "card" size); you
  can add or resize Section fields (like "card fields", their
  contents are unique to each Section) or Document fields (like
  "background fields", their contents are shared among all Sections
  in which they appear). You can also give a field a name, a style
  (e.g. scrolling or not), an initial text, initial text-style
  attributes, and so on. All this can be done intuitively, as in
  HyperCard or FileMaker.


**Slicing the Cake** -- What I've described thus far is a
  convenient method of dividing, formatting, and navigating a
  document, but it isn't all that different from what you might do
  with a word processor. The interesting part comes when you start
  to slice through the Document's divisions, to examine and navigate
  your Document in new ways.

  For example, you might do a Search on a particular word or set of
  words you're interested in. The results appear as a new window
  showing every matching occurrence, one per line, each with some
  context around it - in effect, a customized concordance to a
  Document. If you double-click a line of context, you jump to that
  spot in the actual Document.

  You might also create a hypertext link between two places in a
  Document. Such links are documented in a Cross-Reference Details
  window, showing you all links emanating from the selected text,
  and letting you specify a comment, an author, and a label for each
  link. So, you're not only linking to another location but
  annotating and categorizing the link as well. Later, having
  selected some linked passage, you can either follow the link or
  open the Details window. Thus, hypertext links aren't just
  navigational shortcuts; they're also discussions of your reasoning
  in associating various passages.

  Palimpsest also has Annotations, which are like the comments
  attached to hypertext links but without linking to any other
  passage. Opening a passage's Annotation window is like reading a
  hidden footnote about it.

  You can also get three sorts of "live" summaries of hypertext
  links (by "live" I mean you click a link to jump there):

* A floating windoid called the Cross Reference Browser lists all
  passages in the current section from which hypertext links
  emanate. (Similarly, there is an Annotation Browser.)

* You can obtain a list of all passages at the far end of links
  which emanate from the current Section or Document; this is called
  a Web View.

* You can obtain a list of all links you have traversed or
  examined since Palimpsest was started up; this is called Paths.


**The Big, Big Picture** -- So far, I've talked as if you work
  with only one Palimpsest Document at a time. But Palimpsest is
  intended to manage and relate multiple Documents. Hypertext links
  can run between Documents, and searches are performed over
  multiple Documents. What's more, there are two further entity
  types to help you.

  First, there's the Paper. A Paper is a single window with one
  large scrolling text field in it, nothing more. It's meant in part
  as a place to take notes while you work. A Paper can also have
  Headings, hypertext links, and Annotations. The hypertext linking
  lets the Paper serve also as a repository for references to
  various passages in Documents, and certain special features assist
  with this. For instance, you can paste a passage copied from a
  Document into a Paper and have the pasted material be a hypertext
  link back to the Document passage, all in a single move. And the
  results of Searches, as well as Web Views and Paths, can be saved
  into a Paper as hypertext links, letting you quickly assemble live
  references to related material.

  Second, there's the Study. A Study is a clickable list of
  Documents (and Papers) with a possible brief comment on each one.
  (There is also something called the Archive - there's only one -
  which lists all Studies.) Studies allow you to impose upon a large
  collection of Documents as many different categorizations as
  desired. Again, you can translate Search results, Web Views, and
  Paths into Studies to save time, and comments can help explain why
  you've brought these Documents together in this configuration.

  So, for example, if I were writing an article on Aeschylus'
  Agamemnon, and I had all the scholarship on the subject over the
  past 40 years turned into Palimpsest Documents, then I might keep
  track of the scholarship in Studies - one Study listing all
  articles dealing with the Anger of Artemis, another listing all
  articles dealing with the Hymn to Zeus, and so on. Meanwhile, I
  could write my own article as a Paper, using hypertext links to
  help manage references and using the link comments to remind
  myself of the relationships amongst the various referenced
  passages.


**Teething Pains** -- In any software's early days there are bound
  to be shortcomings, and I felt there was plenty of room for small
  improvements in the version I saw. Some behaviors were slow.
  Windows didn't remember their sizes and positions. Windoids
  couldn't be resized, and were too small to be useful. Hypertext
  link labels couldn't be edited. It was difficult to know where the
  end of a hypertextually linked passage was, so you could easily
  extend it accidentally. Wider import/export capabilities (using
  XTND, perhaps) were needed.

  However, these quibbles are minor - and temporary. Western
  Civilisation is a responsive company, and fully expects to
  incorporate fixes and user suggestions. A faster PowerPC-native
  version has just been released, and most of the points I raise
  above are slated for fixing.

  Granted, Palimpsest probably doesn't do any one of its various
  functions as well as a program dedicated to that function alone:
  it doesn't process words as well as a real word processor, or
  manage hypertext with the ease of Eastgate's Storyspace, or build
  its concordances with the flexibility of Conc. The important
  thing, however, is that it recognizes the need to juggle, analyze,
  relate, read, and write about large numbers of electronic text
  documents. Once you've seen the Search (concordance) and hypertext
  tools in action, it becomes obvious how badly needed they've
  always been. For $50 you get a fully working copy and free updates
  for a year - a very decent price. If you think Palimpsest might
  have a place in your electronic world, you owe it to yourself to
  download and try the free demo.

    Western Civilisation Pty. Ltd. -- +61 2 9130 1731 (Australia)
      <western@westciv.com.au>



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TidBITS#365/10-Feb-97
=====================

  Is OpenDoc an Apple technology following in the footsteps of
  PowerTalk? Component computing seems to be taking off, and Adam
  looks at some real-world OpenDoc products, plus Charles Wheeler
  profiles a family known for its "spokesblob." We also review Bare
  Bones Software's powerful, multi-purpose text editor BBEdit 4.0.2,
  note Heidi Roizen's departure from Apple, reassure Newton users,
  and note a Get Rich Quick scheme for serious hackers and crackers.

Topics:
    MailBITS/10-Feb-97
    OpenDoc Open for Business
    More About Rapid-I
    BBEdit 4.0.2: Speaks Softly but Carries a Big Stick

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-365.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#365_10-Feb-97.etx>

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   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
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MailBITS/10-Feb-97
------------------

**Newton News** -- In the wake of Apple's latest reorganization
  and cost-cutting measures, several news sources reported that
  Apple might ditch its Newton division. Understandably, reactions
  among MessagePad users have ranged from confusion to outrage. On
  Friday, Sandy Benett, vice president of Apple's Newton Systems
  Group, released a letter to developers and users reassuring them
  that the group "remains intact" amid the reorganization, and that
  support for the current MessagePad 2000 and eMate 300 is
  proceeding alongside development of future products. [JLC]

<http://www.newton.apple.com/newton/message_Feb.7.97.html>


**Roizen Leaves Apple** -- Heidi Roizen, Apple's vice president of
  Developer Relations, has announced she'll be leaving Apple on
  19-Feb-97 to commit more time to her family. During the last year,
  Heidi implemented wide-ranging changes in Apple's developer
  support and vastly improved communications between Apple and
  software developers. Her contributions will be missed in the
  developer community, and we hope Apple is able to make good on her
  example. [GD]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/
970210.pr.rel.roizen.html>


**Eudora 3.0.2** -- Qualcomm has released final versions of both
  Eudora Light and Eudora Pro 3.0.2. According to Qualcomm, these
  versions fix problems with nickname file corruption, along with
  problems with attachments, URL handling, and Eudora's editor. You
  must own Eudora Pro in order to use the Eudora Pro updater (1.6
  MB); Eudora Light remains a free product and a 2 MB download. [GD]

<ftp://ftp.eudora.com/eudora/mac/pro302/eudp302updater.sea.hqx>
<ftp://ftp.eudora.com/eudora/mac/light302/eudlight302.sea.hqx>


**Get Rich Quick?** Inspired by last year's $10,000 Macintosh Web
  server security challenge (see TidBITS-317_), Sweden's Joakim
  Jardenberg is conducting a Macintosh Web server "Crack a Mac"
  challenge. From 10-Feb-97 through 10-Apr-97, Joakim is offering a
  cash prize to anyone who can alter the contents of the home page
  on a standard Macintosh Web server set up for the contest running
  WebSTAR 2.0. The prize this time is 10,000 Swedish crowns (about
  $1,350 U.S.), but it's worth noting that no one claimed the prize
  from last year's challenge. Perhaps the U.S. Central Intelligence
  Agency, whose Web pages were recently cracked, should think about
  hosting them on Macintosh servers. [GD]

<http://www.infinit.se/hacke/crack.html>


OpenDoc Open for Business
-------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  In the past, TidBITS has discussed OpenDoc and the promise of
  component software, but I think this year's recent Macworld Expo
  in San Francisco marked the turning point for OpenDoc as a useful
  technology. The Component 100 set of booths showcased numerous
  OpenDoc parts, now known as Live Objects, and many developers
  banded together to sell differently configured bundles of Live
  Objects. Prices were universally cheap, and - interestingly - most
  of the developers were previously unknown small companies. Those
  last two facts speak to the fulfillment of the OpenDoc promise; it
  remains to be seen if companies relying on OpenDoc can become an
  industry force.

  I admit that I haven't yet used many of the available Live
  Objects. The reason is simple - I always have a tremendous amount
  of work to do, and it's almost impossible to justify trying a new
  way of working unless I have a reason to abandon my previous
  systems. I suspect this sort of personal inertia will be the
  primary hurdle the OpenDoc development community must overcome.
  The solution to this problem, I think, is to offer Live Objects
  that provide features hitherto unknown. Just as users gladly
  switch to new programs when there's a clear advantage, so they
  will switch to OpenDoc when they see clear advantages to OpenDoc
  solutions.

  To give you an idea what you can do today with OpenDoc, I
  collected information from many of the Live Object vendors at
  Macworld Expo. I'm sure this isn't a complete list of available
  Live Objects, but it highlights some interesting products you can
  buy today. A more complete list is available at Apple's OpenDoc
  site, and other OpenDoc sites of interest include CI Labs and
  Component 100.

<http://opendoc.apple.com/users/odproducts.html>
<http://www.cilabs.org/>
<http://www.c100.org/>

  I don't list prices for any of the Live Objects below because you
  can generally buy them in a dizzying array of bundles, one of
  which will probably fit your needs. Most of the bundles I saw
  ranged from about $25 to $100. A number of the bundles are listed
  on the Hutchings Software Web site, and it's worth checking out
  individual sites for other offers.

<http://www.hutchings-software.com/bundles/>


**WAV** -- One of the most talked-about Live Objects was WAV from
  Digital Harbor. At its heart, WAV is a word processor, but thanks
  to the flexibility of OpenDoc, it integrates well with the
  Internet via Cyberdog. WAV provides basic word processing tools
  along with some interesting features like the ability to click and
  start typing anywhere on a page. For additional high-end features,
  you plug in other Live Objects. WAV provides component folders for
  third-party Live Objects, accessible via tabs at the top of a WAV
  window. You can also create tabs for Project Folders, which hold
  URLs, Live Objects, text, and graphics for use with a specific
  project.

<http://www.dharbor.com/>


**Nisus Writer 5.0** -- The powerful Nisus Writer 5.0 word
  processor was one of the first well-known applications to support
  OpenDoc. It's only a container for Live Objects (not a Live Object
  that can itself be embedded elsewhere), but if you already use
  Nisus Writer 4.x, upgrading might be a good way to start
  experimenting with OpenDoc.

<http://www.nisus-soft.com/nisus_writer.html>


**C-Table, C-Graph, & C-TextBox** -- One of the most favored tools
  in a word processor is the table tool, but many table tools are,
  shall we say, lousy. Corda's C-Table Live Object has received good
  word of mouth for its feature set and integration with other Live
  Objects, including C-Graph, another Corda Live Object that makes
  graphics from data taken from C-Table or other sources. Corda also
  makes C-TextBox, which enables you to make text boxes in any
  OpenDoc container, complete with stylized text, auto-sizing, drop
  shadows, and numerous border and fill options.

<http://www.corda.com/odentry.html>


**Canopy Outliner** -- If you need an outliner, there's now a Live
  Object for you. Canopy Outliner from Eclipse can embed other Live
  Objects within the outline, and it can be embedded in other Live
  Objects. It can organize any type of data in outline form, has
  unlimited levels of undo, can auto-number items, and link to
  interactive content.

<http://www.outliner.com/>


**Lexi** -- Of course, where would any word processor be without a
  spelling checker? Even better, wouldn't it be nice to have a
  single spelling checker available in all applications? A variety
  of utilities have done this over the years, and now it's available
  for any Live Object that supports Word Services extensions, such
  as the forthcoming Cyberdog 2.0, WAV, Canopy Outliner, and others.
  You can also use SoftLinc's Lexi in stand-alone mode, where it can
  check the spelling of any text document or any piece of text
  imported through drag & drop or copy and paste. Lexi includes a
  212,000 word dictionary, an 185,000-synonym thesaurus, a user
  dictionary, a translation dictionary, and a conjugator.

<http://www.softlinc.com/>


**Dock'Em** -- MetaMind's Dock'Em provides the basic functionality
  and interface of page layout and presentation tools but works
  primarily with other Live Objects. You can embed other Live
  Objects in Dock'Em documents, and you can even embed Dock'Em
  documents in other Dock'Em documents. MetaMind describes Dock'Em
  as a document construction kit, and with the wide variety of
  options offered by other Live Objects, that seems like a fair
  description.

<http://pomo.nbn.com/people/minds/>


**Adrenaline Numbers and Charts** -- So far, I've mainly mentioned
  word processing technology, Internet technology, and page layout
  and presentation technology. But, there's also spreadsheet
  technology, provided by the Adrenaline Numbers Live Object. It's a
  Microsoft Excel 5.0-compatible spreadsheet, and is backed up by
  Adrenaline Charts, a charting tool that can take information from
  Adrenaline Numbers. Both provide, to judge from their feature
  lists, all the basic features that spreadsheet users would need,
  especially in conjunction with other Live Objects.

<http://www.adrenaline.ca/>


**PartBank, Internet Search Service, & WinMenu** -- Kantara
  Development has created a Live Object called PartFinder that works
  with the company's PartBank Web site. PartFinder enables Live
  Objects to locate other data-compatible Live Objects. For
  instance, a spreadsheet Live Object could locate and download
  charting components automatically. Kantara Development has also
  written Kantara Internet Search Service, which enables Cyberdog
  users to search within a number of Web search engines and Web
  catalogs, along with PartBank itself. Also available is Kantara
  WinMenu, which provides a Windows menu for each OpenDoc document.

<http://www.opendoc.partbank.com/>


**Rapid-I Button** -- Last among the Live Objects I saw at
  Macworld Expo, but certainly not least, is Hutchings Software's
  Rapid-I Button, which enables you to put a wide variety of buttons
  in your OpenDoc documents. For a better sense of Rapid-I Button
  and Hutchings Software, read on for Charles Wheeler's interview
  with Rapid-I Button's programmer, Brad Hutchings.


More About Rapid-I
------------------
  by Charles Wheeler <charlesw16@aol.com>

  Tucked in the middle of the Component 100 booth at Macworld Expo
  was a family-owned business that best exemplifies why OpenDoc is
  important to anyone struggling with bloated software. Hutchings
  Software consists of Brad Hutchings, programmer and doctorate
  student at UC Irvine; sister Jennifer, graphics specialist and
  webmaster; Mom, chief financial officer; and Dad, whose specific
  job title and duties were not given. This Lake Forest, California,
  family hand-colored their promotional refrigerator magnets and
  lapel buttons, and Jennifer hand-sewed a few dolls of Rappie, the
  company logo/mascot, a blue "spokesblob."

  Other than their refreshingly low-key marketing approach, why
  should you care about the Hutchings family? Because their first
  commercial product, Rapid-I Button, is the definitive button tool
  for OpenDoc. This is a fully developed, full-featured component,
  on par with other commercial offerings from OpenDoc suppliers like
  Adrenaline, SoftLinc, Corda, or Digital Harbor (whose WAV word
  processor I'm currently using). Rapid-I Buttons can be used to
  control Cyberdog, open files, run scripts, play sounds, and more.

<http://www.hutchings-software.com/>

  Although he had been a Macintosh programmer since 1988, Brad first
  caught the OpenDoc bug after watching a Cyberdog video in 1995. He
  contacted OpenDoc Evangelist Jim Black, who sent him information
  and tools. His first effort, a signaling flag part, was included
  in the OpenDoc Developer Release 4 CD-ROM. Rapid-I Buttons was
  first introduced at the World Wide Developers Conference in 1996.

  Apparently competing button parts are in the works, but, other
  than Apple's simple button component, none have shipped yet. "When
  they pop up, I squash them," joked Brad, when asked about the
  competition. "But I'm not just a button pusher. I want to be known
  for OpenDoc tools that are the best of class." Toward this end,
  Hutchings Software plans to release Rapid-I Surfboard, a Web part,
  at the end of February.

  So how did Macworld treat the Hutchings family? "The response has
  been great," said Mom, "Consumers, especially educators, have been
  very excited."

  OpenDoc has once again opened the door for the rest of us. Just
  when you think it takes a room full of venture capitalists, a
  campus full of programmers, and a marketing department the size of
  a small army to launch a new product, along comes Hutchings
  Software to prove that insanely great things still come in small
  packages.

  [Charles D. Wheeler is a FileMaker Pro for Macintosh consultant,
  Macworld Expo party crasher, and occasional TidBITS contributor.]


BBEdit 4.0.2: Speaks Softly but Carries a Big Stick
---------------------------------------------------
  by Sean Peisert <speisert@ucsd.edu>

  Over the past several years, Bare Bones Software's BBEdit has
  matured from an essentials-only programmer's text editor to a
  terrific, mature product. BBEdit 4.02 stands out as a highly
  useful tool, especially for programmers and HTML enthusiasts, as
  well as for those creating long documents that don't require many
  page layout features.

<http://www.barebones.com/>


**Speaks Softly** -- With its 1 MB RAM allocation and 1.7 MB disk
  footprint, BBEdit doesn't require nearly the system resources of a
  modern word processor. According to Bare Bones, BBEdit runs on a
  Mac Plus or better and requires System 7.0 or later, though Bare
  Bones recommends System 7.5 or newer. The disk footprint may
  expand, however, if you install freely from the BBEdit CD-ROM - my
  complete installation of templates, extensions, dictionaries, and
  more consumes about 8 MB of space.

  BBEdit lists for $119, with a cross-grade coming in at $79 and
  upgrades from a previous commercial version setting you back $39.

  One of BBEdit's hallmarks is packing a ton of great features in an
  easily-navigated interface. For instance, an optional info bar
  tops each document window and shows useful data about the
  document: the last saved date, if the file has been modified since
  its last save, and the file's disk location. Additionally, pop-up
  menus on the status bar lead to often-used functions. Keyboard
  navigation works well, since there are Command-key shortcuts for
  most options. One quirk I appreciate is when a document window is
  created or opened: BBEdit sets a temporary keyboard shortcut
  (Command-1 through Command-0) that activates the window.

  Soft-wrapping, a feature that was key to transforming BBEdit from
  a programmer's editor into a general purpose text editor, has been
  supported since version 3.1. Text wraps automatically at the end
  of a user-specified distance, much as it does in any standard
  Macintosh word processor, without modifying the string of
  characters. Most people take this feature for granted until they
  experience a program that doesn't wrap text. In such a program,
  the text of a long paragraph extends past the right edge of the
  document window instead of wrapping down to the next line.

  BBEdit also supports many Apple technologies and Internet trends.
  For instance, BBEdit's Balloon Help explains just about every item
  in the program, and the BBEdit Guide simplifies looking up terms
  and can help users through complicated tasks. BBEdit isn't
  recordable, but can be scripted using any OSA scripting language,
  including AppleScript and Userland Frontier's UserTalk. Savvy
  scripters can add custom functions to BBEdit by storing
  frequently-used scripts as commands in BBEdit's Scripts menu.

  Although BBEdit features a vast array of user-configurable
  preferences, it's not the most flexible text editor available. I'd
  give that award to emacs or Alpha (a shareware text editor by Pete
  Keleher). In contrast to Alpha's ability to bind just about any
  key combination to any function, the only key-customization BBEdit
  users can do is assign Command-key shortcuts to items in the
  Extensions menu.

<ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/parmet/>
<http://www.cs.umd.edu/~keleher/alpha.html>

  However, BBEdit takes typical text editor features a step further.
  For instance, the Find command supports GREP, which enables
  searching based on complex patterns and regular expressions
  instead of just words or phrases. The BBEdit manual and online
  help do an excellent job documenting the complex syntax involved,
  making it easy to use a search string like "[A-Za-z]+" to search
  for occurrences of single words enclosed in quotes. In addition,
  BBEdit includes some common GREP patterns used by programmers, and
  users can store their own frequently-used GREP expressions.


**Extending the Feature Set** -- BBEdit comes with extensions, but
  they are not extensions like Open Transport and RAM Doubler that
  load when your Mac starts up. Instead, they work more like macros
  or wizards. For instance, the Convert to ASCII extension
  automatically converts text containing 8-bit characters into 7-bit
  text, intelligently changing special characters like smart quotes,
  bullets, and copyright symbols to 7-bit equivalents that can be
  sent via email or viewed as text under a different operating
  system. There's also an extension called Cut Lines Containing,
  which, when activated, prompts for a search string. The extension
  then searches the document for lines containing the string, cuts
  them out, and adds them to the clipboard. Additionally, BBEdit
  ships with a set of well-designed HTML extensions, which I discuss
  in a bit.

  Further, BBEdit comes with a full set of instructions, examples,
  and source code which allow C and C++ programmers to create their
  own extensions. A number of these extensions are available from
  the Info-Mac archives as well as Bare Bones Software's FTP site.

<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/text/bbe/>
<ftp://ftp.barebones.com/pub/third-party-extensions/>


**Carries a Big Stick** -- BBEdit 4.0 finally implements syntax
  coloring for most commonly used programming languages and even
  some obscure ones. Syntax coloring means, for instance, that in
  source code files, comments, language keywords, and string
  constants are all colored to make them stand out better from the
  rest of the code. Syntax coloring also works with HTML and makes
  BBEdit all the more attractive as a Web authoring tool.

  BBEdit has another neat feature called Groups, which enables you
  to assign a set of files - say, all of the files for a Web site -
  to a group. Once you've grouped files, it's easy to open them all
  at once, or to run the Find command on the entire group. This
  feature is a favorite among webmasters who use BBEdit to make
  global changes: rather than open and change an element (say, a
  renamed file or broken link) in each file on a Web site, it's easy
  to perform a search-and-replace for all files in a group.

  BBEdit's well-designed spelling checker checks words against a
  primary U.S. English dictionary and a user dictionary. You can add
  any of a number of optional dictionaries to that set, and included
  dictionaries span subjects ranging from Biblical and British
  English to Legal Secretary and Science. The checker ignores HTML
  tags, making it possible to check an HTML document without
  tripping over the tags.

  I'm a fan of the Compare feature. In addition to comparing the
  contents of two files so you can figure out how they differ
  (similar to the diff command in Unix), BBEdit also compares entire
  folders and Symantec C++ and CodeWarrior project files, and the
  program displays Compare results in a special Browser window that
  helps you cycle through the list of differences.


**The Internet Club** -- BBEdit uses Internet Config to populate
  its Internet menu with your preferred Internet client programs,
  which you can switch to by choosing them from the menu. You can
  also open (or "resolve") a URL simply by selecting it in BBEdit
  and choosing Resolve URL from the menu.

  Perhaps the coolest feature of BBEdit for people uploading to
  remote file servers (such as people doing HTML markup and CGI
  programming) is BBEdit's built-in FTP client. This feature allows
  you to maintain your Web site without leaving BBEdit. The Open
  from FTP Server command transparently downloads the file to your
  hard disk, and - when you save your changes - BBEdit transparently
  uploads the file to the server.


**Sticking up for Developers** -- When used as an editor for
  programming, BBEdit can interface with Integrated Development
  Environments (IDEs) such as Metrowerks CodeWarrior and Symantec
  C++. The interface goes two ways. On one hand, a user can access
  BBEdit from CodeWarrior; on the other hand, a user can access IDE
  features from BBEdit.

  Thanks to external editor support in CodeWarrior versions CW10 or
  later, CodeWarrior users can type source code into BBEdit and make
  that code part of a CodeWarrior project. Then, files opened from a
  CodeWarrior project appear in BBEdit.

  BBEdit uses a Compiler menu to interface to an IDE/compiler,
  providing quick access to commands like Compile, Set Breakpoint,
  Add, and Run. One of the extra niceties provided is the Command-
  Tab keyboard shortcut for switching between C or C++
  implementation source files and their corresponding header
  (declaration) files.

  Finally, BBEdit's features good integration with the Mac scripting
  environment UserLand Frontier, which is included on the BBEdit
  CD-ROM. BBEdit supports Frontier's menu sharing protocol, so when
  Frontier is running, a customizable Scripts menu appears in
  BBEdit's menubar. (Initially, this menu features Web site
  management and HTML authoring functions.) BBEdit can also serve as
  an HTML editor for Frontier, enhancing Frontier's Web site
  management capabilities.

<http://www.scripting.com/frontier/>

  Programmers have long had great editors, however. Unix users have
  had emacs; Macintosh users have had the CodeWarrior IDE, the
  Symantec IDE, as well as Alpha. The explosion of the Web, however,
  has brought about a huge demand for HTML editors.


**Branching into HTML** -- Many HTML extensions have been written
  for BBEdit, and they all endeavor to eliminate tedious
  memorization and typing, or the brain-straining visualization
  necessary to code for things like tables and forms. Lindsay
  Davies's HTML Tools, version 2.1.1, ships with BBEdit and includes
  extensions for much of HTML 3.2, including tables and forms. In
  addition to being accessible like other BBEdit extensions (from
  the menu bar and Command-keys) the HTML Tools can be activated
  from a floating tool palette. For instance, to format text with a
  <STRONG> tag, you highlight the text and choose Strong Emphasis
  from a menu that pops out of the Style button on the palette. The
  HTML Tools also automate more complex tasks such as creating
  tables. When it comes to a table, BBEdit prompts for what sort of
  element to add, such as a row or a cell, and gives you an
  opportunity to set attributes for the element.

  In addition to tools for inserting HTML tags, BBEdit also provides
  administrative functions. A particularly necessary feature, Check
  HTML, verifies the syntax of HTML documents and displays its
  results in a split window with errors on top and the HTML below.
  As you scroll the list of errors, BBEdit highlights the
  appropriate text in the lower pane. I won't argue with Check
  HTML's utility, but I've found it a bit strict, especially
  considering the changing nature of the HTML standard. A good
  improvement for the future would be ability to customize the
  errors Check HTML identifies.

  BBEdit has a custom HTML macro feature that allows you to enter
  your own HTML functions in a relatively simple pattern-matching
  format. It takes time to get the hang of the syntax, but by
  looking at some examples, it is not difficult to pick up
  rudimentary technique. For instance, the following expression
  selects a word and frames it with the font size tags:
  !SW<FONTSIZE +2>\s</FONTSIZE +2>. Thus, it converts "thistext"
  to <FONTSIZE +2>thistext</FONTSIZE +2>.


**Room For Improvement?** BBEdit strikes me as nearly a perfect
  text editor, and I base that statement on having used many text
  editors in the past, including vi, emacs, Alpha, Plaintext, BBEdit
  Lite, Tex-Edit Plus, the CodeWarrior IDE, and the Symantec C++
  IDE. My uses have ranged from programming C++, Perl, or Java, to
  writing articles, marking up text in HTML, or simply viewing text
  downloaded from the Internet.

  A feature I would like to see associated with BBEdit is a Revision
  or Version Control System (RCS/VCS). A Revision Control System
  enables you to better manage document versions, and would extend
  the functionality already in the Compare command. Consider the
  following situation: you create a document, be it HTML, a text
  file, or C++ source code. A few days later, you edit it and make
  significant changes. A few more days later, you realize you
  deleted something from the first version that you wanted after
  all. A Revision Control System helps you save and track all these
  existing versions by archiving the previous versions and allowing
  you to compare the current document to previous versions. Although
  there are a few third-party revision control system products
  available (such as Rev, reviewed in TidBITS-362_), even the free
  GNU XEmacs for Unix has an excellent RCS feature built in.

  BBEdit has few noticeable bugs. The main one I've encountered is a
  minor conflict between BBEdit 4.0.x and Apple's LaserWriter 8.4.1
  driver, where the last character of a BBEdit document will not
  print. Bare Bones anticipates fixing this problem in BBEdit 4.0.3,
  which should be available shortly. Also, BBEdit's FTP tool doesn't
  correctly handle MacBinary file transfers - extraneous information
  can appear when a file is opened, and file information is lost
  when a file is saved. This problem should be corrected in BBEdit
  4.0.3, and an interim fix is available from Bare Bones.


**Bottom Line** -- Anyone who works frequently with HTML files,
  source code, or plain text documents can benefit from BBEdit. You
  can give BBEdit a trial run by downloading the demo from Bare
  Bones Software's Web site.

  Bare Bones also produces a freeware version of BBEdit, called
  BBEdit Lite. BBEdit Lite contains all of the editing niceties of
  BBEdit, but lacks many of the tools, including integration with
  compilers, OSA support, the HTML floating palette, Internet Config
  support, a spelling checker, and FTP features.


**DealBITS** -- Cyberian Outpost is offering BBEdit to TidBITS
  readers for $94.95 ($5 off) through this URL:

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/bbedit.html>


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 -------------------------------------------------------------------

TidBITS#366/17-Feb-97
=====================

  The Mac OS is perhaps the easiest operating system to use, but
  even beginners sense there's more under the hood than first
  appears. A book by David Pogue and Joseph Schorr explores the
  Mac's inner machinery. Also, Geoff Duncan reports on Apple's newly
  announced Macintoshes, Matt Neuburg reviews Canvas 5.0.1, and Jeff
  Carlson explores the Internet from his favorite cafe, thanks to
  the Ricochet Wireless Modem.

Topics:
    MailBITS/17-Feb-97
    Apple Introduces New Macs
    Macworld Mac Secrets, Fourth Edition
    Tied Down No More: The Ricochet Wireless Modem
    The Microsoftization of Deneba: Canvas 5.0.1

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-366.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#366_17-Feb-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

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MailBITS/17-Feb-97
------------------

**QuickTake 200** -- Apple announced the QuickTake 200, which
  briefly catches Apple up with the digital photography industry.
  The QuickTake 200 features a 1.8-inch LCD display that serves as a
  viewfinder and a means of viewing photos, along with NTSC video
  output and the ability to function as a video conferencing camera.
  Pictures are captured to removable storage cards, with the bundled
  2 MB card holding about 20 high-quality images. The camera comes
  with Adobe PhotoDeluxe and PageMill, and should be available in
  early March for about $600. [GD]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/
970217.pr.rel.quicktake200.html>


Apple Introduces New Macs
-------------------------
  by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>

  Today at Macworld Expo Tokyo, Apple announced a new set of Macs,
  some of which give existing machines a speed bump and minor
  redesigns, one of which targets the Mac clone market, and one of
  which will make some PowerBook users green with envy.

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/
970217.pr.rel.products.html>


**Power Macs** -- At the high end come the Power Macintosh
  9600/233 and 9600/200MP, which are enhancements to Apple's 9500
  series with faster versions of the 604e. The new 9600s have 12x
  CD-ROMs, 4 GB hard disks, 32 MB RAM, 512K of Level 2 cache, six
  PCI slots, 10Base-T Ethernet, and high performance IMS Twin Turbo
  128 M4A video cards. Similarly, the new Power Mac 8600/200 is a
  revved-up version of the 8500, with a 12x CD-ROM, 32 MB RAM, the
  8500's video input/output capabilities, and a built-in Iomega Zip
  drive. The 9600/233 should be available in May for $4,250; the
  9600/200MP and 8600/200 will be available in March for about
  $4,750 and $3,250, respectively.

  Closer to earth is the Power Mac 7300, at prices from $2,300 to
  $2,800. The 7300 replaces the 7200 and 7600 as a middle-of-the-
  road system, and features a 604e processor running at 180 or 200
  MHz, 16 or 32 MB of RAM, a 12x CD-ROM drive, 2 GB hard disk, 256K
  of Level 2 cache, three PCI slots, and 10Base-T Ethernet. The 7300
  also adds a security feature to the accessible internal design of
  the 7000-series: it seems those internal components may have been
  too accessible. Apparently, a thermal problem with some CPU cards
  has delayed shipment of the 7300s, although Apple has reportedly
  told dealers units will be available in early March.

<http://www.macweek.com/mw_1107/nw_delay.html>

  If the 9600s, 8600s, and 7300s are variations on a theme, then the
  low-cost Power Mac 4400 is a new tune from Apple. Designed to
  compete directly with Mac clones, the 4400 includes a 200 MHz 603e
  processor, 16 MB of EDO RAM, 8x CD-ROM, 2 IDE GB hard drive, two
  PCI slots, 256K of Level 2 cache and 10Base-T Ethernet (via a card
  in the Comm II slot). The 4400 is the first Apple machine based on
  the Tanzania motherboard used by clone vendors, and (also like
  clones) utilizes less-expensive parts from the PC world, including
  a mostly non-Apple case and non-switching power supply. Unlike
  other models, the 4400 has almost no bundled software, but with a
  price around $1,700 and performance in line with similarly-
  configured Mac clones, the 4400 could sell well.

  The Power Macs 9600 and 8600 have new swing-out case designs that
  provide easier access to internal components, and the 9600, 8600,
  and 7300 all use replaceable CPU daughter cards, making it
  possible to upgrade the CPU without replacing the entire machine.
  These machines ship with System 7.5.5, except the Power Mac 4400,
  which ships with System 7.5.3. Apple says all these machines will
  run Mac OS 7.6.1, which should be available in April. All these
  new systems come with both a keyboard and a mouse.


**PowerBook 3400c** -- Apple also introduced the fast, high-end
  PowerBook 3400c. The feature array for the 3400c includes a 603e
  processor at speeds from 180 to 240 MHz, 16 MB of RAM, 256K Level
  2 cache, IDE hard drives from 1.3 to 3 GB, optional 6x and 12x
  CD-ROM drives, built-in 33.6 Kbps fax modem and 10Base-T Ethernet,
  and a stunning 12.1-inch active matrix screen. The PowerBook 3400c
  also has a hot-swappable drive bay (for a floppy drive, CD-ROM, or
  other devices), space for two Type II or one Type III PC Card, an
  infrared port, and a four-speaker sound system. The 3400c is
  reportedly very snappy, aided by its high clock speeds, 32-bit PCI
  bus, and responsive video. However, at 7.5 pounds and prices
  ranging from $4,500 to a whopping $6,500, the PowerBook 3400c is
  not for everyone. The 180 and 200 MHz versions of the 3400c should
  be available this week, with the 240 MHz versions appearing in
  April.


**The Response** -- Are Macintosh clone vendors going to let Apple
  steal the thunder with new machines? Not likely: you can expect
  vendors to reduce prices in response to Apple's new models, as
  well as introduce new models of their own. Also, as Apple's new
  machines enter the channel, watch for discounts on now-
  discontinued 7600, 8500, and 9500 models.


Macworld Mac Secrets, Fourth Edition
------------------------------------
  by John Nemerovski <johnemer@tmug.com>

  With any new Macintosh book, I evaluate its worth on how quickly I
  can locate valuable information that I can use immediately.
  Macworld Mac Secrets, Fourth Edition, by David Pogue and Joseph
  Schorr, rewarded me with these morsels:

* I was helping a friend do diagnostic work on her Quadra 605 and
  PowerBook 140. I learned that the Quadra 605 is identical to the
  LC 475 and the Performa 475, including the 68LC040 chip, which
  gave me a useful frame of reference; and that the PowerBook 140
  runs at 16 MHz on a 68030 chip, which helps explain the speed
  discrepancy from her Quadra.

* In the chapter on ClarisWorks word processing secrets, I learned
  several new features about the "wonderfulness of ClarisWorks
  Click-and-Drop" and that "amazing Font menu." The Option key
  triggers all sorts of tricks in ClarisWorks' humble list of fonts!

  The word "secrets" is appropriate to about one third of the
  information in the book. The other two thirds consist of useful
  general knowledge about all aspects of the Macintosh, plus helpful
  tips and tricks to boost your Mac productivity and enjoyment.


**Lots of Book for the Buck** -- Mac Secrets consists of three
  components: the massive book (1,208 pages), a respectably packed
  CD-ROM disk (550 MB), and a Web site for updates to the book and
  the bundled software. This edition is quite current, demonstrated
  by a reference to Mac OS 7.6's new installer, and, ironically, to
  rumors of Apple's potential liaison with Be, Inc.

<http://www.idgbooks.com/idgbooksonline/macsecrets/>

  The authors describe the fourth edition by stating that
  "everything's different, nothing's changed." The format and feel
  are consistent with earlier editions, but the look is cleaner and
  easier to read. On the CD, the custom folder icons from previous
  editions have been replaced by "plain, boring, ordinary" folders,
  so they open rapidly.

  Pogue and Schorr offer a diversified presentation, including
  conventional text and occasional entertaining back-and-forth
  dialogues, plus sidebars of secrets, true facts, case histories,
  and "Answer Man" solutions. The book is peppered with bulleted
  bonuses, such as Speed Tips, Exclusives, On the CD, Strange but
  True, and Worth Learning. For example, one tip worth exploring is
  "The Golden Troubleshooting Rule: A Clean Install," which explains
  the benefits of installing all generations of Mac system software
  from scratch, instead of on top of an existing System.

  Chapter 4 is an outstanding, mini-encyclopedia on control panels
  and extensions, including "The Ultimate Extension-Linking Guide."
  Troubleshooting your Mac is covered in an excellent 30-page
  chapter. An extensive glossary and index help readers locate and
  understand terms, concepts, and the secrets themselves.


**More Than Just a Book** -- Is this a book or a software package?
  Pogue and Schorr understand that "despite the countless hours your
  cheerful authors have spent researching and writing this book, you
  may well consider the software supplied with this book to be the
  main course." They're not kidding: a total of 110 different
  shareware, freeware, and commercial programs and demos fill up the
  CD-ROM, and the book uses 58 pages explains the software in
  detail.

  A few fully functional titles include: CanOpener, Claris Emailer,
  DiskFit Direct, TechTool, TypeIt4Me, Remember?, Cyberdog, OpenDoc,
  and QuickTime. The CD is a veritable software library kept up to
  date via the book's Web site. (Discount coupons for upgrades and
  full versions of many commercial applications are also provided.)

  On the CD, the software is conveniently listed by chapter,
  category, author, and a few more groupings, aliased to the
  Complete Software List. The entire text of the book is on the CD,
  in searchable Adobe Acrobat format.

  Macworld Mac Secrets is extensive, but no doubt there are Mac
  secrets that didn't make it into the manuscript. The co-authors
  are conducting a 1997 contest for the 50 best undocumented Mac
  secrets, with one $500 top cash prize and 50 free books awarded
  (with credit to the winners).

<http://www.idgbooks.com/idgbooksonline/macsecrets/secretscontest.html>

  Macworld Mac Secrets is a good value for the money that will
  receive plenty of use either as an addition to your library or as
  a gift. I give this book my highest recommendation, especially for
  intermediate-level Macintosh users.

    Macworld Mac Secrets, 4th Edition, David Pogue and Joseph
      Schorr, ISBN 0-7645-4006-8. $44.95 U.S., $62.99 Canadian.

    IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. -- 800/762-2974 -- 800-667-1115
      (Canada) -- <international@www.idgbooks.com> (international)


Tied Down No More: The Ricochet Wireless Modem
----------------------------------------------
  by Jeff Carlson <jeffc@tidbits.com>

  I'm a big fan of "cafe computing." I don't mean going to a
  cybercafe, where the coffee-stained hardware is already there and
  waiting, or a trendy coffee mega-chain where an open laptop
  advertises pseudo-geek chic. I'm talking about sitting in my
  favorite coffee house with my PowerBook and doing a little
  writing. Since I spend most of my days in front of a computer
  screen, it's nice to change the walls and atmosphere around it.

  So, when I heard about Metricom's Ricochet Wireless Modem, I was
  excited. Liberated from telephone jacks and cords, I could spend
  all day at the coffee house, sending and receiving email,
  searching the Web, even dialing the server at work via Apple
  Remote Access. Had I stumbled upon Utopia? Well, almost.

<http://www.ricochet.net/>


**Get Unwired** -- The Ricochet modem is a small, black,
  rectangular device weighing 13 ounces, with a cord that plugs into
  the Mac's serial port. The cord is only about six inches long, so
  you don't have to worry about dangling wire. If you use the
  Ricochet on a desktop machine, I suggest buying the optional
  10-foot cable. You can mount the unit on your PowerBook cover with
  the included velcro pads, but since I'm the type who gets nervous
  about bumper stickers on my car, I left the velcro in the package.
  The kit also comes with an AC adapter; two disks with the Ricochet
  software, MacPPP, and Netscape Navigator 2.0; plus a manual.

  For a $29.95 monthly fee (the Basic Service option), you get
  unlimited Internet access via Metricom's Ricochet servers and a
  POP email account. Renting the modem costs $12.50 per month on top
  of that, or you can buy the unit for either $299 (with a 12 month
  service agreement) or $599 (if you want the modem, but not the
  Internet access, to communicate wireless on a Ricochet-enabled
  Intranet or LAN, or even in the same room with others with
  Ricochets). You can also opt for a rent-to-own agreement at $25
  per month. I chose the basic modem rental, since the Ricochet is
  bound to get smaller and lighter over time. Additional fees give
  you additional services: the Preferred option includes Telephone
  Modem Access (TMA), allowing you to dial into services accessible
  only via telephone number (such as other ISPs and bulletin board
  services). The Elite option includes a cc:Mail account and
  software (substituted for POP email), TMA, dial-in capability to
  retrieve mail outside the Ricochet coverage area, and outbound fax
  capability (at the unusually high cost of 50 cents per page).

<http://www.ricochet.net/order/pricing/metro.html>

  The biggest limitation of the Ricochet service is its current
  coverage area, which is limited to Seattle, most of the San
  Francisco Bay area, and Washington D.C., although I gather that
  Metricom is frantically trying to expand coverage to meet demand.

<http://www.ricochet.net/coverage/index.html>

  Expanding coverage, however, isn't necessarily simple, requiring a
  good deal of infrastructure and the cooperation of a given city's
  government. If you live in one of the cities currently covered,
  you may notice many street lamps have acquired boxy appendages.
  Those "microcell radios" grab signals from Ricochet modems and
  pass them along to other microcells within the license-free (902-
  928 MHz) portion of the radio frequency spectrum using a technique
  called frequency hopping. The radio packets are eventually routed
  to a Wired Access Point (WAP), which transmits them to Ricochet's
  servers via a T1 connection. Microcells are spaced roughly one-
  quarter to one-half mile apart in a checkerboard pattern, mounted
  on street lamps and utility poles. Installing these units requires
  city approval, which in most cases is no problem. However, a large
  chunk of San Francisco, for example, is currently "blacked out"
  due to pending approval.


**Using the Ricochet** -- Installing the software was surprisingly
  easy. Although I backed up my TCP/IP settings first, the Ricochet
  installer made my preparations seem like overkill: the TCP/IP
  information was stored as a new TCP/IP configuration and made
  active. After a restart, I was ready to go.

  The Ricochet's power switch is on the side of the unit, requiring
  you to rotate the antenna out of the way to power up the modem - a
  nice touch that largely avoids accidentally turning it on and
  draining the battery. The switch has three settings: off,
  on/silent, and on/audible. If you're used to the R2-D2-on-acid
  electronic screech of most modems, the polite chirp of the
  Ricochet will be a welcome change. After activation, a red light
  case flashes to indicate the Ricochet is searching for the signal
  from a nearby microcell; when the light flashes green, you're
  ready to dial up using PPP; when you're connected, the light
  flashes yellow.

  Once connected, the Internet experience is similar to wire-based
  connections. Metricom broadly (and wisely) claims that the
  Ricochet will operate between 14.4 Kbps and 28.8 Kbps - not
  lightning-fast, but good compared to cellular phone/modem
  connections. People who need Internet access while away from the
  office would benefit by using the Ricochet, regardless of the
  speed. I found the speed hovering closer to the low range,
  depending on my location. The manual recommends operating the unit
  outside or near a window, and away from objects that could cause
  interference, such as stereo speakers.

  The Ricochet's battery lasted between four and six hours, as
  promised, which was fine. I unexpectedly ran out of juice on only
  a couple of occasions before discovering a tip on Metricom's Web
  site: you can put the modem to sleep by running a terminal program
  such as Zterm and typing "ATS327=3". You can set the time of
  inactivity before sleep by typing "ATS326=x" (x being the number
  of minutes; the default is 10).


**Wild, Wireless Ways** -- After using the Ricochet for a few
  hours, I had completely adjusted to the notion of wireless
  computing. Suddenly, the idea of messing around with phone
  companies and wired access seemed outdated and antiquated.
  Certainly, wireless Internet access is the way access ought to be,
  although I'm sure it will years before we look back and laugh at
  our reliance on land-line connections. In the meantime, users who
  require mobile Internet access will find the Ricochet an
  invaluable addition to the growing arsenal of portable-computing
  products.

  Ironically, although I enjoyed using the Ricochet, I'm compelled
  to mentioned that it no longer travels with me. One of the main
  reasons I got it was to serve as a second phone line both at work
  and at home, with the added bonus of using it in the coffee house.
  But because the speed was consistently slow in my home (and since
  the people in my office are installing an ISDN line) I opted for
  the slightly cheaper route and put a second phone line into my
  apartment. Frankly, $42.50 per month was a bit of a luxury, so I
  took the Richochet back. However, I'm still an advocate of cafe
  computing, and I won't think twice about getting one in the
  future. For now I'll be content to envy the other people with
  Ricochets in my favorite coffee house.


The Microsoftization of Deneba: Canvas 5.0.1
--------------------------------------------
  by Matt Neuburg <matt@tidbits.com>

  Although I'm no artist, I do need to make diagrams and pictures
  occasionally, and the early surprise and pleasure of MacPaint and
  MacDraw helped define the Macintosh for me. For years I was a fan
  of SuperPaint (TidBITS-112_), which essentially combined the two;
  but it "progressed" to become sluggish, and when I used it to
  diagram my New Zealand garden, it was clumsy, it wouldn't print,
  and screen updating was slow. That's when I switched to Deneba's
  Canvas 3.5.


**Put Me in the Picture** -- Canvas, which first appeared in 1987,
  had developed a kind of cult following. It could both draw and
  paint, and it went beyond SuperPaint in its precision, multi-
  layered documents, and the many cool tricks it could do thanks to
  its component architecture, which allowed integration of new
  tools, such as binding text to a path, or adding dimension
  measurements. It was quick and rugged. Most remarkably, it handled
  a huge variety of graphics formats.

  When Deneba announced that Canvas would be so radically improved
  as to be designated 5.0, we adherents were smug. We'd backed the
  right horse this time! Our anticipation, though, was prolonged.
  Canvas 5.0 was advertised month after month; the upgrade was
  previewed at Macworld Expo in August, 1995, and again in January,
  1996; but no product. Finally, it "shipped" at the Expo in August,
  1996 - meaning that in late September and early October, users
  began actually receiving copies.

  A collective howl of anti-climactic despair arose on the nets.
  Users complained of crashes, erratic behavior, of slow screen
  updating, of unaccountably large file sizes, of inability to
  print, of inability to export to PICT or to import from Canvas
  3.5. My own first 5.0 project, a house diagram, was a dismal
  failure - the dimension measurements showed as nonsense, and
  rotated text wouldn't print on my StyleWriter (I went back to 3.5
  and did the job easily). Deneba's customer support server was
  swamped; an email provoked an automated response after a few days,
  a human response after weeks or never. Evidently, for all our
  patience, 5.0 was still not the real release.

  In November, a 5.0.1 updater appeared. In January, a new
  installation CD shipped. My printing problems went away when I
  adopted Apple's Color StyleWriter 1500 driver (no thanks to any
  advice from Deneba). The dust was finally settling.


**Graphic Analysis** -- As promised, Canvas 5.0.1 goes well beyond
  its predecessor, integrating into one program capabilities that
  could save users from having to purchase single-purpose
  applications in a number of areas.

* It's a draw program. You get the usual vector-based shapes and
  Bezier paths, plus many specialized shapes, enhanced by pen
  widths, arrows and calligraphic shapes, plus colors, gradients,
  hatchings, and textures, all heavily customizable and savable in
  library form for later use. Bezier paths can also now be combined
  and blended in powerful new ways.

* It's a diagram program. As in 3.5, "smart lines" link their
  objects even when the latter are moved, and dimension tools and
  "smart mouse" features help with exact measurements.

* It's a 3-D program. The extrusion tool now makes parallel or
  circular rotatable objects with customizable lighting.

* It's a page layout program. A new type of document, the
  publication, can have columns, linked text boxes, headers and
  footers. You can have cascading paragraph and character styles,
  automatic hyphenation, even widow and orphan control.

* It's a paint program. The paint tools include many new ways of
  laying on color, plus complex transfer modes and tools for
  smudging, sharpening, blurring, saturating and so on.

* It's an image-processing program. You can use channels, masks,
  and filters to manipulate images in complex ways.

* It's a presentation program. You can use successions of images
  to make a slide show (not much changed from 3.5).


**Dull as Paint** -- Unfortunately, Deneba has created a decidedly
  unpleasant user experience. The program feels at every step like a
  cross-platform port: the help file reminds one of Microsoft Help;
  the dialogs have an un-Mac-like look and feel; a status bar mars
  the bottom of the screen; 3.5's extensive scriptability is
  completely gone; and there are occasional meaningless error
  messages. Installation is a nightmare, with dozens of undocumented
  files dumped into the System folder. The manual, while
  impressively slimmed down from 3.5's 900-page brick, is a tedious,
  repetitive reference, burdened with double sets of illustrations
  and instructions for both Windows and Mac.

  A number of problems come down to speed, or the lack of it. On my
  computer using Canvas 5.0.1 is painfully slow. Okay, so I've got
  an LC 475. But that's a 68040 processor, though without an FPU. It
  runs 3.5 quickly, and comments on the net suggest that even Power
  Mac owners find 5.0.1 sluggish.

  The screen is astoundingly slow to refresh - and it chooses to
  refresh a lot, at the most unaccountable times: after you've
  peeked at a palette; after just about any individual operation on
  a single object; even after scrolling in a floating window that
  doesn't cover any of the drawing. If you switch in from another
  application, the screen sometimes partially redraws, then the
  floating palettes redraw (also a tedious operation), and then the
  screen starts redrawing (slowly!) all over again. Besides which,
  the screen often unaccountably vanishes in the middle of an
  operation, or redraws incorrectly, so you have to force a refresh
  - and wait through it.

  Various operations seem to send my computer into a frozen limbo:
  no status-bar message, no watch cursor, no change in my menubar
  clock, no response to clicks, no ability to switch away, nothing.
  Thus I have frequently believed the program to have crashed and
  restarted the computer; but it appears that most of the time there
  was in fact some calculation going on. An indication of this would
  have been nice.


**Bad Brushwork** -- Basic tools have not been much improved; on
  the whole, they are inconvenient and clumsy to use, both
  physically and mentally.

  For example, selection tools are poor; it can be difficult and
  tedious to select the particular vector items you want, because
  all you can do is click or draw rectangles.

  With the Bezier path tools, it is difficult to see what's going on
  as you draw or select, even with your face right up against the
  screen. Drawing a new path is unnecessarily difficult: after you
  draw the first point and tangent, the tangent vanishes, leaving
  just a point that's difficult to see and which gives you no sense
  of what will happen as you draw the second point and tangent. (As
  you draw subsequent points, the previous point and its tangent
  _are_ both shown, so why not as you draw the second point?) There
  are no keyboard shortcuts for selecting points or tangent handles;
  you have to find them by eye (not easy) and click right on them
  (ditto). There have been some improvements in these tools - a new
  pop-up menu is a welcome relief from the numerous modifier-click
  path editing combinations one used to have to memorize - but they
  don't make up for these basic shortcomings.

  When you use a paint tool, you can't see what you're doing either,
  because it appears as the same little icon regardless of the size
  and shape of the actual brush you're using; in effect, you're
  trying to paint with an invisible brush, so you just have to guess
  at the effect of clicking the mouse at any particular point. This
  is a major step backwards from 3.5.

  It is hard to learn what the current settings are for any
  particular object. For instance, after you select an object,
  clicking on the line tool doesn't show you the object's line width
  (you must tear off the palette and scroll through it, hunting for
  the selected item); nor does the object's pen or fill color become
  selected in the inks palette. The distinction between a particular
  object's settings and the default settings remains confusing as
  well.


**Drawing Conclusions** -- Canvas 5.0 was shamefully full of bugs
  and errors; a glance at Deneba's own lists of changes and fixes in
  5.0.1 shows just how full (and such lists are usually deliberately
  incomplete).

<http://www.deneba.com/dazroot/softlibs/canvas5/resolved.html>
<http://www.deneba.com/dazroot/softlibs/canvas5/changes.html>

  Canvas 5.0.1 runs far more reliably, but still in a sluggish,
  useless, unhelpful way. The slowness of screen redraw, in
  particular, is unforgivable; I have enough spare RAM that the
  program could cache the whole screen as a bitmap (though even
  paging out to disk and back would be vastly faster than what's
  happening now), and in any case I don't see why all 50 objects on
  the screen have to redraw just because I change the color of one
  of them. Both screen redraw and the interface with the basic
  vector and paint tools need to be rethought from the ground up, if
  this version of Canvas is to be useful.

  Meanwhile, Deneba has not dropped Canvas 3.5 from its list of
  current products. That's wise.

<http://www.deneba.com/dazroot/prodinfo/canvas5/cv5main.html>


$$

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TidBITS#367/24-Feb-97
=====================

  Ever wondered what motivates sales people at large consumer
  electronics stores? Money! Read about Ian Gregson's experiences
  over the last holiday shopping season. Also in this issue, info on
  beta releases of Emailer 2.0 and Apple's CFM-68K Runtime Enabler,
  Mark Anbinder looks at the WebTV, and Stuart Cheshire examines in
  detail how latency brings your super-fast new modem to its knees.

Topics:
    MailBITS/24-Feb-97
    Selling Performas at the Front Lines
    An Internet for the TV Generation
    Bandwidth and Latency: It's the Latency, Stupid (Part 1)

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-367.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#367_24-Feb-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of hard drives, tape drives, and neat SCSI accessories.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
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* EarthLink Network -- 800/395-8425 -- <sales@earthlink.net>
   Direct Internet access for Mac users. New Personal Start Page,
   no setup fee for TidBITS readers! <http://www.earthlink.net/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.1, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS#367! <--------- NEW!
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MailBITS/24-Feb-97
------------------

**CFM-68K Beta** -- Last December, Apple recommended that owners
  of 68K Macs disable the CFM-68K Runtime Enabler because it could
  cause serious crashes and data loss with some applications (see
  TidBITS-356_), and Mac OS 7.6 did not support CFM-68K. Now, Apple
  has released CFM-68K Runtime Enabler 4.0b1 for 68K-based Macs.
  Although Apple stresses that the beta is unsupported (so use it at
  your own risk!), early tests indicate that 68K applications
  requiring CFM can now run, with the exception of Cyberdog 1.2.x or
  2.0. Apple plans to ship the new version of CFM-68K in Mac OS
  7.6.1, an interim release due as early as next month. [GD]

<http://www.macos.apple.com/macos/cfm/cfmbeta.html>


**BBEdit 4.0.3** -- Bare Bones Software has updated BBEdit, the
  commercial version of its popular text editor. (See TidBITS-365_.)
  The new BBEdit 4.0.3 has improved FTP and HTML support, better
  integration with CodeWarrior, and faster launch times, as well as
  better performance on PowerPC 603 and 604 processors. The updater
  is about 2.5 MB. [GD]

<http://www.barebones.com/updates.html>


**Emailer 2.0 Beta** -- Claris has announced a public beta of
  Emailer 2.0, which now stores all its messages in a single file
  (eliminating serious performance and storage problems with earlier
  versions) and features enhanced filtering capabilities. Although
  the Emailer 2.0 beta includes many improvements, my quick tests
  show it's only stable enough for adventurous users. The download
  is about 5 MB. [GD]

<http://www3.claris.com/emailer_beta/>


Selling Performas at the Front Lines
------------------------------------
  by Ian Gregson <igregson@portal.ca>

  Do you ever wonder why, when you walk into a large consumer
  electronics store that sells Macs, the sales staff are not always
  very helpful (or sometimes even friendly)? My experiences during
  the last holiday shopping season gave me insight into why some
  Macintosh buyers get the cold shoulder from sales staff.

  I've used a Mac since 1989, and - just before Christmas - I
  subcontracted with Apple on one of their in-store promotions,
  called Apple Demo Days. After two days of training, I went to work
  at the busiest Future Shop store in Canada's greater Vancouver,
  B.C. region - which roughly translated into a pre-Christmas
  shopping hell.


**Spiff and Span** -- I found that sales staff get kickbacks
  (called "spiffs") from the computer companies for extra sales.
  Acer, Compaq, IBM, and Apple all give incentives. Guess who gave
  the best incentive at the stores I visited? Acer. Guess who sold
  the most? Acer. Guess who gave the least incentive? Apple. Guess
  which company sold the least? You get the idea.

  Not only do incentives vary from one brand to another, but also
  from one model to the next. For example, the incentives on the
  Performa 6400/200 or 180 were considerably higher than on the new
  6360.

  The incentive scheme is probably the strongest motivator for sales
  staff, and it translates into the sales staff spending more time
  with a potential Acer Aspire buyer than a Macintosh buyer. It also
  translates into sales staff pushing the Acer brand instead of the
  Mac. "Ease of use" or "plug and play" have no meaning when the
  sales staff receives incentives of up to 500 percent more.

  In my time at Future Shop, the Acer Aspire sold at roughly a rate
  of ten to one compared to the Macintosh. It was painful to watch.
  Neophyte computer users had no idea what they were getting
  themselves into. Most of them wanted a cheap machine that got them
  on the Internet. The Aspire does that - eventually.

  I spoke with many of these first-time computer buyers. My first
  question was, "Have you ever considered a Macintosh?" Ninety
  percent of the answers were "no" (and these were the polite
  responses). I often received comments such as, "Is this a joke?",
  "Does it do Windows?", and "My friends all have Windows 95 - why
  should I buy a Mac?" After I bypassed their apparent dread of
  anything Macintosh, people were always impressed with my demo.
  Just putting a disk or CD in the drive and having it appear on the
  desktop amazed people. The ease of use blew people away. Having
  cable TV play through the Mac made people's jaws drop to the
  floor. Some seriously considered the Mac as an alternative (for
  about five minutes), and then bought an Acer anyway.

  On a positive note, 90 percent of the Mac users were pleased to
  see me. I had great conversations with long time Mac fans about
  how great the Mac is and how lousy Apple is at marketing the Mac.
  (The remaining 10 percent were Performa 6400 users who had bought
  their machines when they first went on sale; Apple dropped the
  price by about $700 Canandian two months after their
  introduction).

  It was obvious that new computer users were coming into the store
  with preconceived notions about which computer to buy. They were
  not coming to make a decision, they were coming to buy the
  computer they had already chosen. Combined with the staff's
  motivation to offer the Acer to anyone with the slightest doubt
  about what to buy, this made for comparatively low Mac sales.


**What Should Apple Do?** Apple needs a more aggressive
  advertising strategy in order to outsell the Acer Aspires of this
  world. Though 30-minute infomercials are great, a creative,
  intelligent 30-second ad can be more effective. Every medium must
  be equally considered.

  Although Apple incentives to sales staff have improved (all staff
  at one Future Shop store, for example, received PowerBook 190s for
  having the highest Macintosh sales over a given period), nothing
  convinces commission-paid staff to sell more product than cold,
  hard cash. I know this because I had several members of the sales
  staff asking me to buy their PowerBooks from them.

  If the Mac sales at large electronics stores are so disappointing,
  why are Macs still offered in that channel? Because that's where
  budget-conscious, first-time, don't-know-better computer users buy
  their first machines. Future Shop stores are on the front line in
  the battle for new consumer buying power.

  There are still far more people without home-based computers than
  with them. Apple must convert first-time computer buyers before
  they even enter a store. Combine this with motivating the sales
  staff to introduce Apple products to first-time buyers and Apple
  sales figures could soar.


An Internet for the TV Generation
---------------------------------
  by Mark H. Anbinder <mha@tidbits.com>

  The Web has grabbed the attention of many people who hunger for
  information and entertainment, and groups as varied as the
  National Hockey League and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival have
  put huge efforts into making their Web sites attractive and
  informative. But, though TidBITS readers by definition already
  have some form of Internet access, many families lack the
  relatively modern computer, modem, and Internet service account
  needed to get online.

<http://www.nhl.com/>
<http://www.mind.net/osf/>

  New consumer electronics products from Philips Magnavox and Sony,
  both licensing the WebTV name, make Web and email service
  available to anyone whose home has a television set and a phone
  line (just about everyone, although the set and phone jack must be
  in close physical proximity). The sleek, black gizmos cost about
  $300 (plus another $100 if you want the "optional" keyboard - you
  do) and service is about $20 per month, less than most folks pay
  for cable TV.

<http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/webtv/index.html>
<http://www.magnavox.com/hottechnology/webtv/webtv.html>
<http://www.webtv.net/>

  One big advantage of WebTV is that everything's ready. There are
  no software programs to shuffle, no special utilities to download
  if you want to listen to sound or view video, and no out of memory
  errors or general protection faults. The unit has a built-in,
  high-speed modem (33.6 Kbps v.34bis), so all you need to do is
  hook up the cables from the WebTV to your telephone jack, an
  electrical outlet, and your TV.

<http://www.webtv.net/corp/HTML/home.specs.html>

  The WebTV concept is that home users want entertainment and
  information to come to them. The basic WebTV model, with just a
  handheld remote control and no keyboard, meets that goal. You can
  browse to your heart's content, using arrow buttons on the remote
  to move around a Web page, and the Go button to follow a link or
  choose an option. This feels odd to someone accustomed to a mouse,
  but isn't too foreign; it reminds me of programming a VCR.

  WebTV displays Web pages on your television screen. Even if your
  TV is much bigger than most computer screens, it can't display as
  much information: TVs don't have as much resolution as even a 640
  by 480 monitor, though the WebTV's S-Video port provides a
  slightly better picture for TVs that support S-Video. Many Web
  pages look quite different on a WebTV than they do in Netscape
  Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. For instance, thanks to
  the interlaced nature of TV screens, horizontal rules flicker on a
  WebTV if they are only one pixel high. Generally speaking, text
  may wrap differently and graphics may appear elsewhere than the
  designer intended. Web pages designed for unusually large monitors
  (a bad idea in my opinion) will be difficult to deal with.


**Real Updates** -- The latest WebTV version supports RealAudio,
  which enables Web users listen to concerts, newscasts, and other
  sounds in real time. The bandwidth of a modem connection provides
  high enough fidelity that voice (such as a newscast) sounds fine
  and music (such as a concert broadcast) is passable. Early WebTV
  buyers will find that their unit can update itself to include this
  feature and others; when the WebTV developers complete new
  abilities, each unit offers to retrieve the needed software and
  update itself. Updates takes several minutes by modem, so the
  WebTV asks if you'd like to take the time before it does so.


**Email for Everyone** -- WebTV can do email, too, and can keep
  track of up to five private mailboxes. This kind of email is
  probably best suited to writing to the kids at college, or having
  Becky and Timmy drop Grandma a line. The WebTV can't fit enough
  text on a TV screen to show much of an email message at once, and
  the (Helvetica-like) proportional font makes formatted email
  useless, but sending and receiving short messages should work
  fine.

  This brings us to the issue of typing. Most Internet users will
  need to type from time to time, even if they never use email. To
  tell your WebTV to visit "www.cnn.com" or "www.tidbits.com" you
  must type the address. WebTV lets you use the remote control to
  hunt-and-peck on an onscreen keyboard reminiscent of the Newton's;
  this is easy to master (you can even switch between the standard
  QWERTY typewriter layout and an alphabetical arrangement) but
  painfully slow.

  The keyboard uses the same infrared remote control technology as
  the WebTV remote, so you can sit on the couch and type with the
  keyboard on your lap. It's a compact keyboard, and might take some
  getting used to, but it's much better for typing than the remote
  control.


**Mark Likes It!** I was surprised that the WebTV's browser grew
  on me; I've enjoyed the couch-potato approach to Web surfing and
  appreciate the ability to pop up a Web page whose URL appears in a
  TV program or commercial. In other words, even long-time Internet
  users can be heavy WebTV users. Naturally, WebTV's target market
  is the family that doesn't have a computer, but I can see real
  value to adding a WebTV even for a connected family. While you're
  at it, buy one for Grandma, too.


Bandwidth and Latency: It's the Latency, Stupid (Part 1)
--------------------------------------------------------
  by Stuart Cheshire <cheshire@cs.stanford.edu>

  Years ago David Cheriton at Stanford University taught me
  something that seemed obvious at the time - if you have a network
  link with low bandwidth then it's easy to put several in parallel
  to make a combined link with higher bandwidth, but if you have a
  network link with bad latency then no amount of money can turn any
  number of parallel links into a combined link with good latency.
  Many years have passed, and these facts seem lost on the most
  companies making networking hardware and software for the home. I
  think the time has come to explain it.


**Speed & Capacity** -- Even smart people have trouble grasping
  the implications of latency on throughput. Part of the problem is
  the misleading use of the word "faster." Would you say a Boeing
  747 is three times faster than a Boeing 737? Of course not. They
  both cruise at around 500 miles per hour. The difference is that
  the 747 carries 500 passengers where as the 737 only carries 150.
  The Boeing 747 is three times _bigger_ than the Boeing 737, not
  faster.

  If you were in a hurry to get to London, you'd take the Concorde,
  which cruises around 1,350 miles per hour. It seats only 100
  passengers though, so it's the smallest of the three. Size and
  speed are not the same thing.

  On the other hand, if you had to transport 1,500 people and you
  only had one airplane to do it, the 747 could do it in three trips
  while the 737 would take ten. So, you might say the Boeing 747 can
  transport large numbers of people three times faster than a Boeing
  737, but you would never say that a Boeing 747 _is_ three times
  faster than a Boeing 737.

  That's one problem with communications devices today.
  Manufacturers say _speed_ when they mean _capacity_. The other
  problem is that as far as end-users are concerned, the main thing
  they want to do is transfer large files more quickly. It may seem
  to make sense that a high-capacity, slow link would be the best
  thing for the job. What end users don't see is that in order to
  manage that file transfer, their computers are sending dozens of
  little control messages back and forth. Computer communication
  differs from television or radio broadcasting in the interactivity
  of the communication, and interactivity depends on back-and-forth
  messages.

  The phrase "high-capacity, slow link" above probably looks odd to
  you. It looks odd even to me. We've been used to wrong thinking
  for so long that correct thinking looks odd now. How can a high-
  capacity link be a slow link? High-capacity means fast, right?
  It's odd how that's not true in other areas. If someone talks
  about a high-capacity oil tanker, do you immediately assume it's a
  fast ship? If someone talks about a large-capacity truck, do you
  immediately assume it's faster than a small sports car?

  We must start making this distinction again in communications.
  When someone tells us that a modem has a speed of 28.8 Kbps we
  have to remember that 28.8 Kbps is its capacity, not its speed.
  Speed is a measure of distance divided by time, and "bits" is not
  a measure of distance.

  But there's more to perceived throughput than issues of speed and
  capacity, namely latency. Many people know that when you buy a
  hard disk you should check its seek time. The maximum transfer
  rate is something you might also be concerned with, but seek time
  is more important. Why does no one think to ask about a modem's
  seek time? Latency is the same thing as seek time: the minimum
  time between asking for a piece of data and getting it, just like
  the seek time of a disk, and it's just as important.


**Monkey On Your Back** -- Once you have bad latency you're stuck
  with it. If you want to transfer a large file over your modem it
  might take several minutes. The less data you send, the less time
  it takes, but there's a limit. No matter how small the amount of
  data, for any particular network device there's always a minimum
  time that you can never beat. That's called the latency of the
  device. For a typical Ethernet connection the latency is usually
  about 0.3 ms (milliseconds, or thousandths of a second). For a
  typical modem link, ping and traceroute tests show the latency is
  typically about 100 ms, about 300 times worse than Ethernet.

  If you wanted to send ten characters (at eight bits per character)
  over your 33 Kbps modem link you might think it would take:

    80 bits / 33000 bits per second = 2.4 ms

  Unfortunately, it doesn't. It takes 102.4 ms because of the 100 ms
  latency introduced by the modems at each end of the link.

  If you want to send a large amount of data, say 100K, then that
  takes 25 seconds, and the 100 ms latency isn't very noticeable,
  but for smaller amounts of data, say 100 bytes, the latency
  overwhelms the transmission time.

  Why would you care about this? Why do small pieces of data matter?
  For most end-users it's the time it takes to transfer big files
  that annoys them, not small files, so they don't even think about
  latency when buying products. In fact, if you look at the boxes
  modems come in, they proudly proclaim "28.8 Kbps" and "33.6 Kbps",
  but they don't mention latency at all.

  What most people don't realize is that computers must exchange
  hundreds of little control messages in the process of transferring
  big files, so the performance of small data packets _directly_
  affects the performance of everything else on the network.

  Now, imagine you live in a world where the only network connection
  you can get to your house is a modem running over a telephone
  line. Your modem has a latency of 100 ms, but you're doing
  something that needs lower latency. Maybe you're trying to do
  audio over the network. 100 ms may not sound like much, but it's
  enough to cause a noticeable delay and echo in voice
  communications, which makes conversation difficult. Maybe you're
  playing an interactive game over the network. The game only sends
  tiny amounts of data, but that 100 ms delay makes the
  interactivity of the game decidedly sluggish.

  What can you do about this? Absolutely _nothing_. You could
  compress the data, but that won't help: the data was already
  small, and that 100 ms latency is still there. You could install
  80 phone lines in parallel and simultaneously send a single bit
  over each phone line, but that 100 ms latency is still there.

  In other words, once you have a device with bad latency there's
  nothing you can do except replace the device with one that has
  good latency.


**Modem Latency** -- Current consumer devices have appallingly bad
  latency. A typical Ethernet card has a latency less than 1 ms. The
  Internet backbone as a whole also has very good latency. Here's a
  real example:

* The distance from Stanford in California to MIT in Boston is
  4320 km
* The speed of light in vacuum is 300 * 10^6 m/s
* The speed of light in fibre is 60 percent of the speed of light
  in vacuum
* The speed of light in fibre is 300 * 10^6 m/s * 0.6 =
  180 * 10^6 m/s
* The one-way delay to MIT is 4320 km / 180 * 10^6 m/s = 24 ms
* The round-trip time to MIT and back is 48 ms
* The current ping time from Stanford to MIT over today's Internet
  is about 85 ms:
* 84.5 ms / 48 ms = 1.76
* The hardware of the Internet can currently achieve speed
  of light + 76 percent

  So the Internet is doing pretty well. It may get better with time,
  but we know it can never beat the speed of light. In other words,
  that 85 ms round-trip time to MIT might reduce a bit, but it's
  never going to beat 48 ms. The speed can improve a bit, but it
  isn't going to double. We're already within a factor of two of the
  theoretical optimum. I think that's pretty good - not many
  technologies can make that claim.

  Compare this with a modem. Suppose you're 18 km from your Internet
  service provider. At the speed of light in fibre (or the speed of
  electricity in copper, which is about the same) the latency should
  be:

    18000 / (180 * 10^6 m/s) = 0.1 ms

  Although modems vary, the latency over your modem is anywhere from
  75 ms to about 130 ms. Modems are currently operating at a level
  that's more than 1,000 times worse than the speed of light. And,
  of course, latency cuts both ways. If a one-way trip using a
  typical modem has a latency of about 130 ms, then the round-trip
  delay is about 260 ms.

  Of course no modem link will ever have a latency of 0.1 ms. I'm
  not expecting that. The important issue is the total end-to-end
  transmission delay for a packet - the time from the moment the
  transmitting software sends the packet to the moment the last bit
  of the packet is delivered to the software at the receiving end.
  The total end-to-end transmission delay is made up of fixed
  latency (including the speed-of-light propagation delay), plus the
  transmission time. For a 36 byte packet the transmission time is
  10 ms (the time it takes to send 288 bits at a rate of 28.8 Kbps).
  When the actual transmission time is only 10 ms, working to make
  the latency 0.1 ms would be silly. All that's needed is that the
  latency should be relatively small compared to the transmission
  time. About 5 ms would be a sensible latency target for a modem
  that has a transmission rate of 28.8 Kbps.


**Understanding Transmission Delay** -- At each hop, overall
  transmission time has two components: per-byte transmission time
  and fixed overhead. Per-byte transmission time is easy to
  calculate, since it depends only on the raw transmission rate. The
  fixed overhead comes from sources like software overhead, hardware
  overhead, and speed of light delay.

  For modems, the distance is typically short, so speed of light
  delay should be negligible. However, the data rate is low, so it
  takes a long time to send each byte. The per-byte transmission
  time should account for most of the time taken to send the packet.
  To send 100 bytes over a 28.8 Kbps modem should take:

    100 bytes * 8 bits per byte / 28800 bits per second = 28 ms

  That means the round-trip should be twice that, or 56 ms. In
  reality it's often more like 260 ms. What's going on? Two other
  factors contribute to the overall time.

  First, modems are often connected via serial ports. Many modem
  users assume that if they connect their 28.8 Kbps modem to their
  serial port at 38.4 Kbps they won't limit their performance,
  because 38.4 is greater than 28.8. It's true that the serial port
  won't limit throughput, but it will add delay, and delay, once
  added, never goes away. So, sending 100 bytes down the serial port
  to the modem should take:

    100 bytes * 10 bits per byte / 38400 bps = 26 ms

  Second, modems try to group data into blocks. The modem will wait
  for about 50 ms to see if more data is coming that it could add to
  the block, before it starts to send the data it already has. Let's
  see what the total time is now:

    26 ms (100 bytes down serial port to modem)
    50 ms (modem's fixed waiting time)
    28 ms (transmission time over telephone line at 28.8 Kbps)
    26 ms (100 bytes up serial port at receiving end)

  Thus, the total time is 130 ms each way, or 260 ms for the round-
  trip. To make things worse, imagine that the 100 bytes in question
  are used by an interactive game being played by two players. If
  both players are connected to their respective Internet service
  providers by modem, then the total player-to-player round-trip
  delay is 520 ms, which is hopeless for any tightly-coupled
  interactivity, and this is reflected in the state of today's
  networked computer games. Can we do anything to improve this?


**Improving Latency** -- One thing to notice is that the 38.4 Kbps
  serial connection between the computer and the modem, which many
  people don't think of as being the bottleneck, turns out to be
  responsible for 52 ms of the delay. In fact, it's the single
  biggest contributor - almost twice as much as the actual
  communication over the telephone line. What can we do about this?
  If you can connect the modems at both ends at 115.2 Kbps instead
  of 38.4 Kbps, the serial port delay can be reduced to 9 ms at each
  end. Better still, if you can use an internal modem on a card
  instead of one connected through a serial port, the delay can be
  eliminated entirely, leaving a round-trip delay of only 156 ms.

  Having eliminated the serial port delay, the next biggest
  contributor to delay is the fixed 50 ms overhead built into the
  modem itself. Why is there a fixed 50 ms overhead? The reason is
  that modern modems offer lots of "features" - namely, compression
  and automatic error correction. To get effective compression and
  error correction, modems must work on blocks of data, which means
  characters are corralled in a buffer until the modem has received
  a block big enough to work on efficiently. While the characters
  accumulate in the modem's buffer, they're not being sent over the
  phone line. Imagine you're sending a small amount of data, 100
  bytes. That's not enough for the modem to work on effectively, so
  it would like a bigger block. After you have sent the 100 bytes to
  the modem, it waits to see if more characters arrive. After some
  time - about 50 ms - it decides no more characters are coming, so
  it compresses and ships what it has. That 50 ms the modem spends
  hoping for more data is unrecoverable, wasted time.

  Modems were originally designed with remote terminal access in
  mind. They were meant to take characters - typed by a user on one
  end and transmitted by a mainframe on the other - and group them
  into little blocks to send. The only indication that a user had
  finished typing (or that the mainframe had finished responding)
  was a pause in the data stream. No one told the modem when no more
  characters would be coming for a while, so it had to guess.

  This is no longer the case. Most people use modems to connect to
  the Internet, not old mainframes, and Internet traffic is made up
  of discrete packets, not a continuous stream of characters.

  There's a simple fix for this problem. We could make modems aware
  that they are sending Internet packets. When a modem sees the PPP
  (Point to Point Protocol) End-Of-Packet character (0x7E), it could
  realize that the packet is complete and immediately begin
  compressing and sending the block of data it has, without pausing
  for 50 ms. This simple fix would eliminate the 50 ms fixed
  overhead, and should allow us to achieve a 56 ms round-trip delay
  over a modem PPP connection - almost five times better than what
  typical modems achieve today.

  [Tune in next week as Stuart explains how bandwidth and latency
  interact, and how software can try to cope with the latency
  problem.]


$$

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TidBITS#368/03-Mar-97
=====================

  Are you a hotshot at using Macs to build full-text search engines
  for the Web? Enter the first-ever TidBITS Macintosh Search Tool
  Shootout! Also this week, we bring you part two of Stuart
  Cheshire's article on latency and bandwidth, plus information on
  new versions of Internet Explorer and Quicken. Also, our field
  correspondents report on highlights from Macworld Tokyo, and we
  call for additional TidBITS translators.

Topics:
    MailBITS/03-Mar-97
    TidBITS Macintosh Search Tool Shootout
    Macworld Tokyo: Of Cameras and Macs
    Bandwidth and Latency: It's the Latency, Stupid (Part 2)

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-368.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#368_03-Mar-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com> <-------- NEW!
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* EarthLink Network -- 800/395-8425 -- <sales@earthlink.net>
   Direct Internet access for Mac users. New Personal Start Page,
   no setup fee for TidBITS readers! <http://www.earthlink.net/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.1, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS#368! <--------- NEW!
   NEW Power Mac 7200/120 - 32 MB RAM, 1.2 GB HD, 8xCD: $1295
   More Info: <http://www.smalldoggy.com/#tid> -- 802/496-7171
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

MailBITS/03-Mar-97
------------------

**Translators Needed** -- For the last year or so, teams of
  dedicated volunteer translators have created award-winning
  translations of TidBITS in Chinese, Dutch, French, German,
  Japanese, and Spanish. These teams could use additional volunteers
  to spread the load. Each team works a bit differently, but all
  could use more volunteers to translate an article every week or
  so. If you're interested in helping support the Macintosh in your
  country or language, please contact the appropriate coordinator
  below. [ACE]

    Chinese -- Peter <webmaster@appleclub.com.hk>
    Dutch -- Sander Lam <sanderlm@knoware.nl>
    French -- Chantal David <csamuel@excelsior.fr>
    German -- Walter J. Ferstl <ferstl@carrier.co.at>
    Japanese -- Shuichi Odaka <odaka@iprolink.ch>
    Spanish -- Javier Pedreira <wicho@encomix.es>


**Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0a** -- Although I use a variety
  of browsers to view and test Web sites, I'm using Microsoft's
  Internet Explorer with increasing regularity. With the release of
  version 3.0a (PowerPC-only, alas) last week, Microsoft has
  resolved problems with deleting cache files, repeatedly reloading
  some Web pages, Challenge Response Protocol (used when accessing
  secured pages), and loading Java under MacTCP. Minimum and full
  install versions are available, ranging in size from 2.1 MB to
  nearly 8 MB. [JLC]

<http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/iemac.htm>


**Steve Becker** <steve@macease.com> writes:
  Intuit has released an R6 update for Quicken 7 and Quicken 7
  Deluxe. The update fixes several bugs (see TidBITS-353_ and
  TidBITS-359_), and the non-standard ROI (Return On Investment)
  calculation in the Portfolio window has been replaced by the
  preferred ROI calculation used in the Investment Performance
  report. In addition, Q7 users may wish to know that Connectix's
  Speed Doubler can significantly speed the opening of Register
  windows, and indexing error warnings can sometimes be avoided by
  increasing Quicken's memory allocation (an additional 1 MB worked
  for me).

<http://www.intuit.com/quicken/technical-support/quicken/releases/
qfm7-releases/>


**Get Even Richer** -- If you were intrigued by the Crack A Mac
  challenge underway in Sweden to break into a Macintosh Web server
  (see TidBITS-365_) but felt pot wasn't sweet enough, you might be
  interested to know that several Mac resellers have donated
  additional funds to raise the jackpot to over $10,000 U.S. Of
  course, you still have to alter the target server's home page to
  claim the money. The contest runs through 10-Apr-97. [GD]

<http://hacke.infinit.se/indexeng.html>


TidBITS Macintosh Search Tool Shootout
--------------------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  For some time, we've been lamenting the fact that TidBITS doesn't
  have a good, full-text, search engine. Years ago, Ephraim Vishniac
  set up an excellent WAIS source for TidBITS, but that was when
  Thinking Machines ran the public WAIS server on their Connection
  Machine. That service eventually went away, and several attempts
  were made to replace it. The current search engine is run by
  Sensei Consulting in Australia, and although it's welcome, we
  often hear of troubles accessing it. In addition, searches return
  entire issues, rather than articles, so you must also search
  within the returned issue.

  A variety of searching tools that run on Macs have appeared over
  the years, but we've never had the proper combination of time,
  hardware, and experience to put them through their paces. So,
  we've come up with a different method for evaluating these pieces
  of software - we're going to have a search tool shootout!

  We have a number of goals in mind. First, we want to pull out the
  best search tools for the Macintosh among the numerous contenders.
  Second, we want to let the creators of these programs strut their
  stuff. Third, we want to provide a way for people to search
  TidBITS easily.


**Who Can Participate?** Anyone can participate, although we
  expect that those who have written search tools will be the most
  interested, since this will give them a chance to show off in a
  real-world test that will be useful to thousands of people. If,
  however, you're a consultant and specialize in setting up
  Macintosh-based search tools, you're welcome to compete.


**What's the Test?** Once everyone who has expressed interest in
  participating has contacted our Managing Editor Jeff Carlson at
  <jeffc@tidbits.com>, we'll provide access to all back issues of
  TidBITS, in HTML format. No pansying around here - the competition
  will use the contents of over 360 issues of TidBITS, about 11 MB
  of text covering the last seven years. Once everyone has the
  issues, they can set up their search engines. We don't have
  anywhere near enough Macs to host this, so contestants will have
  to provide their own hardware and Internet connection. Technical
  questions regarding our format or other issues can be directed to
  me at <ace@tidbits.com>.


**Specification** -- No contest would be complete without rules.
  All entries:

* Must offer full-text search capabilities of all TidBITS issues.
* Must be made with and run on a single Macintosh running the Mac
  OS.
* Must be accessible via the Web.
* Must automatically integrate new issues every week.
* Must return results at an article level (articles all start with
  <H2> tags).
* Must display results using HTML source from TidBITS issues,
  including hot links.

  In addition, these bonus items could be included and will improve
  an entry's chance of winning:

* Sorting results by date or relevance
* Low cost
* Short setup time
* Other additional features, such as suggesting alternative sites
  to search if a search comes up empty


**The Time Frame** -- We don't expect contestants to drop
  everything and start working on this full time - in fact, we'd
  prefer to hear things in the best entries like "Yeah, I whipped
  this off while I was waiting for my pizza to arrive." The
  Macintosh is about ease-of-use, and we hope that it won't be
  difficult to set up these systems. Here are the dates to watch:

* 17-Mar-97: Deadline for entering the contest.
* 21-Apr-97: Deadline for completing entries. Judging starts.
* 12-May-97: Winner announced.


**How Will We Judge?** Implementation details are up to the people
  participating in the shootout, but we have guidelines that
  contestants should keep in mind. All of the specifications should
  be met, although we won't disqualify entries for not meeting all
  of them (other than the Mac and Web requirements, which aren't
  negotiable).

* Compliance with the specifications
* Speed of searching, independent of connection speed
* Attractive and usable interface for the search page
* Attractive and readable results pages
* Cost and setup time
* Additional features


**The Prizes** -- Obviously, a contest requires prizes, and we'll
  reward the winning entry (or entries) with the main thing we have
  - exposure to an estimated 150,000 Macintosh users. We plan to
  write about the shootout, looking at each entry and concentrating
  on the best of the crop. Then, assuming everything works out,
  we'll implement the best solution on our servers for everyone to
  use, giving that entry full credit and significant exposure. Other
  contestants can continue to host their searchable archives of
  TidBITS as a real-world demonstration of what their software can
  do, and we'll link to those who keep the archive up-to-date with
  new issues.


Macworld Tokyo: Of Cameras and Macs
-----------------------------------
  by Chuck and Linda Shotton <cshotton@biap.com>

  The Tokyo version of Macworld Expo always comes off brighter,
  perkier, and quite different from the Macworld shows held in
  Boston and San Francisco. Booths are generally larger, have more
  staff, and the "booth babe" is a staple of nearly every venue. If
  one thing stands out, it's the diversity of products. In addition
  to items seen at the U.S. shows, Macworld Tokyo features an entire
  hemisphere's worth of products, ideas, and technologies. Our
  mission was to ferret out products that aren't generally available
  in the U.S. or aren't widely known by the Mac community in the
  States.


**Digital Cameras** -- Our first quest sent us on the rounds of
  the digital camera vendors. The roll-out of Apple's new QuickTake
  200 camera begs comparison to some new products offered by
  Japanese companies. We tried to limit ourselves to notable cameras
  in the $250 to $1,500 range.

  Fujifilm was demonstrating its new Fujix DS-300 camera. Although
  one of the more expensive offerings (educated guesses put it
  around $1,400), it packs a lot of capability into a package the
  size of a normal SLR 35 mm camera. In addition to RS-232 and NTSC
  interfaces, this camera boasts a PC Card slot and a SCSI
  interface. But the big surprise is a whopping 1280 by 1000 high-
  resolution mode. You can save 8 photos at this resolution in JPEG
  or TIFF format, 30 in "fine" resolution, 62 in the normal 640 by
  480 mode, and 121 photos in "basic" mode, with reduced resolution.
  This camera takes normal 35 mm lenses, and the CCD will emulate
  film speeds from ISO 100 to ISO 400.

<http://www.fujifilm.co.jp/noah/>

  At the other end of the price spectrum was Panasonic's Cool Shot
  (KXL-600A-N). This pistol-grip camera is about the size of a 3" by
  5" index card, less than an inch thick, and fits comfortably in
  your palm. It avoids the battery-sucking color LCD viewfinders of
  its competitors, opting for the simple point-and-shoot viewfinder
  lens found one-button film cameras. The Cool Shot accepts standard
  Type 2 PC Cards and stores either 24 640 by 480 images or 96 320
  by 240 images on a 2 MB card. The major attraction of this camera
  is its small size and the one-hand operation allowed by its unique
  form factor. It has an optional external LCD viewer, a docking
  station for use with a desktop computer, and software for Macs and
  PCs. Prices range from $400 to $800.

<http://www.panasonic.co.jp/cbdo/p3/>

  New lines of cameras from Ricoh and Sharp also caught our
  attention. Sharp's new camera was a PC Card with a built-in
  digital camera. Designed to work with the Zaurus color PDA, the
  card could be popped from a portable power supply into a laptop
  where the images could be accessed immediately. Ricoh's DC-2
  camera series has the unique ability to capture not only still
  images, but full-motion video and/or audio soundtracks and
  annotations. The basic stills-only model (DC-2E) starts around
  $650, with the 2L and 2V models including video and audio
  capabilities for about $800 and $950 respectively.

<http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dc/index.html>


**Pioneering Macs** -- Though Apple's new hardware announcements
  were a big hit, Pioneer was showing a couple of new Macs that
  would be welcome on my desktop. The Pioneer clones packed serious
  horsepower in a mini tower package with features that are
  unavailable in the U.S. right now. The most exciting feature was
  CHRP (PPCP) compliance, with the MPC-GX2 model running the CHRP
  version of System 7.6. Powered by a 200 MHz 604e with 32 MB of
  memory and 512K of L2 cache, the box seemed very responsive. In
  addition to the usual Macintosh ports, this box sports four PCI
  slots, one ISA slot, two IDE channels, a 2 GB SCSI hard disk, and
  the usual set of mouse, serial, and parallel ports found on an
  Intel PC. Best of all, a DVD-ROM drive tops the tower. The demo
  was playing a full-screen version of the latest James Bond movie,
  Goldeneye, while running System 7 applications in the foreground.
  Most impressive. Retail prices weren't available but prices seemed
  to start around $3,500.

<http://www.pioneer.co.jp/comp/>


**Read My Mind** -- Other notable hardware included revised
  versions of the AtMark Pippin boxes and the IBVA brainwave
  hardware, which had the coolest demo of all, with direct
  brainwave-to-MIDI output allowing the user to "think" new music.
  The new software has an open plug-in architecture that allows you
  to hook the brainwave hardware and software to nearly any Mac
  application through the addition of scripts and so on. The
  possibilities seem novel and exciting, though the cost in Japan
  was around $1,000 for the wireless headset, base station, and
  associated software.

<http://www.opendoor.com/Pagoda/IBVA.html>


**Englishbonics** -- On the software front, one of the more useful
  products was an English language tutor called English Now! from
  Transparent Language, Inc. This product combines, written, spoken,
  and visual elements into a system that provides a comprehensive
  language learning environment. Features include the ability to see
  English text as each word is highlighted and spoken in a variety
  of synthesized voices, record your own voice and compare it to
  sonographs of correctly spoken words, and numerous lessons and
  games involving translating Japanese text to English and vice
  versa, spoken text into written words, etc. I was very impressed
  with the completeness of the package. English Now! costs
  approximately $100 on CD-ROM for both Mac and Windows.

<http://www.three-a.co.jp/>


**Overall** -- There was more to see than we were able to get to
  during our two days at the show. Apple's new hardware was nice,
  but incremental in its innovation. I give a big thumbs up to the
  Pioneer clones (and Pioneer's side-by-side demo of a 25-inch, flat
  panel LCD display - a mere two inches thick!) as the cool hardware
  for the show, followed closely by the IBVA package. Cool software
  definitely goes to English Now! Though I'm no expert in computer-
  aided language instruction, it seemed to me that you could succeed
  in learning English if you worked through its lessons.


Bandwidth and Latency: It's the Latency, Stupid (Part 2)
--------------------------------------------------------
  by Stuart Cheshire <cheshire@cs.stanford.edu>

  [Last week in TidBITS-367_, Stuart examined issues of latency and
  delay in typical modem-based Internet communications. This week,
  Stuart offers general observations on how bandwidth can be used
  more efficiently and how it effects the overall latency of a
  connection.]

  Last week, I asked readers to imagine a world where the only
  network connection you can get to your house is a modem running
  over a telephone line at 33 Kbps. Now, imagine that this is not
  enough bandwidth for your needs. You have a problem.


**Making Bandwidth is Easy** -- Technically, the solution is
  simple. You can install two telephone lines and use them in
  parallel, giving you a total of 66 Kbps. If you need more capacity
  you can install ten telephone lines, for a total of 330 Kbps.
  Sure, it's expensive, having ten modems in a pile is inconvenient,
  and you may have to write networking software to share the data
  evenly between the ten lines. But if it was sufficiently
  important, it could be done. People with ISDN lines already do
  this using a process called BONDING (which is short for "Bandwidth
  ON Demand INteroperability Group"), which enables them to use two
  64 Kbps ISDN channels in parallel for a combined throughput of 128
  Kbps.

  Getting additional bandwidth is possible, even if it's not always
  economical. However, equally important is that making limited
  bandwidth go further is easy.


**Compression** -- Compression is an easy way to increase
  bandwidth. You can apply general purpose compression (such as
  StuffIt) to the data. Even better, you can apply data-specific
  compression (such as JPEG for still images and MPEG for video),
  which can provide much higher compression ratios.

  These compression techniques trade off use of CPU power for lower
  bandwidth requirements. However, there's no equivalent way to
  trade off use of extra CPU power to make up for poor latency.

  All modern modems utilize internal compression algorithms.
  Unfortunately, having your modem do compression is nowhere near as
  good as having your computer do it. Your computer has a powerful,
  expensive, fast CPU, whereas your modem has a feeble, cheap, slow
  processor. In addition, as we noted last week, a modem must hold
  on to data until it has a block big enough to compress
  effectively. This requirement adds latency, and once added,
  latency can't be eliminated. Also, since the modem doesn't know
  what kind of data you're sending, it can't use superior data-
  specific compression algorithms. In fact, since most images and
  sounds on Web pages are already compressed, a modem's attempts to
  compress the data a second time adds more latency without any
  benefit.

  This is not to say that having a modem do compression never helps.
  When the host software at the endpoints of the connection is not
  smart and doesn't compress data appropriately, then the modem's
  own compression can compensate somewhat and improve throughput.
  The bottom line is that modem compression only helps dumb
  software, and it hurts smart software by adding extra delay.


**Send Less Data** -- Another way to cope with limited bandwidth
  is to write programs that take care not to waste bandwidth. For
  example, to reduce packet size, wherever possible Bolo (my
  interactive network tank game) uses bytes instead of 16-bit or
  32-bit words.

<http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/Bolo.html>

  For many kinds of interactive software like games, it's not
  important to carry a lot of data. What's important is that when
  the little bits of data are delivered, they are delivered quickly.
  Bolo was originally developed running over serial ports at 4800
  bps and could support eight players that way. Over 28.8 Kbps
  modems it can barely support two players with acceptable response
  time. Why? A direct-connect serial port at 4800 bps has a latency
  of 2 ms. A 28.8 Kbps baud modem has a latency of 100 ms, 50 times
  worse than the 4800 bps serial connection.

  Software can cope with limited bandwidth by sending less data. If
  a program doesn't have enough bandwidth to send high-resolution
  pictures, it could use a lower resolution. If a program doesn't
  have enough bandwidth to send colour images, it could send black-
  and-white images, or images with dramatically reduced colour
  detail (which is what NTSC television does). If there isn't enough
  bandwidth to send 30 frames per second, the software could send 15
  fps, 5 fps, or fewer.

  These trade-offs aren't pleasant, but they are possible. You can
  pay for more bandwidth or send less data to stay within your
  limited available bandwidth. However, if the latency is not good
  enough to meet your needs you don't have the same option. Running
  multiple circuits in parallel won't improve latency, and sending
  less data won't help either.


**Caching** -- One of the most effective techniques for improving
  computer and network performance is caching. If you visit a Web
  site, your browser can copy the text and images to your hard disk.
  If you visit the site again, the browser verifies that the stored
  copies are up-to-date, and - if so - the browser just displays the
  local copies.

  Checking the date and time a file was last modified is a tiny
  request to send across the network - so small that modem
  throughput makes no difference. Latency is all that matters.

  Recently, some companies have begun providing CD-ROMs of entire
  Web sites to speed Web browsing. When browsing these Web sites,
  all the Web browser does is check the modification date of each
  file it accesses to verify that CD-ROM copy is up-to-date. It must
  download from the Web only files that have changed since the
  CD-ROM was made. Since most large files on a Web site are images,
  and since images on a Web site change far less frequently than the
  HTML text files, in most cases little data has to transfer.

  Once again, because the Web browser is primarily doing small,
  modification date queries to the Web server, latency determines
  performance and throughput is virtually irrelevant.


**Latency Workarounds** -- ISDN has a latency of about 10 ms. Its
  throughput may be twice that of a modem, but its latency is ten
  times better, and that's the key reason why browsing the Web over
  an ISDN link feels faster than over a modem.

  One reason standard modems have such poor latency is that they
  don't know what you're doing with your computer, or why. An
  external modem is usually connected through a serial port, and all
  it sees is an unstructured stream of bytes coming down the serial
  port.

  Ironically, the much-maligned Apple GeoPort Telecom Adapter may
  solve this problem. The Apple GeoPort Telecom Adapter connects
  your computer to a telephone line, but it's not a modem. Instead,
  all modem functions are performed by software running on the Mac.
  The main reason for the criticism is that this extra software
  takes up memory and slows down the Mac, but in theory it _could_
  offer an advantage no external modem could match. When you use the
  GeoPort Telecom Adapter, the modem software is running on the same
  CPU as your TCP/IP software and your Web browser, so it could know
  exactly what you are doing. When your Web browser sends a TCP
  packet, the GeoPort modem software doesn't have to mimic the
  behaviour of current modems. It could take that packet, encode it,
  and send it over the telephone line immediately, with almost zero
  latency.

  Sending 36 bytes of data, a typical game-sized packet, over an
  Apple GeoPort Telecom Adapter running at 28.8 Kbps could take as
  little as 10 ms, making it as fast as ISDN, and ten times faster
  than the best modem you can buy today. For less than the price of
  a typical modem, the GeoPort Telecom Adapter could give you Web
  browsing performance close to that of ISDN. Even better, people
  who already own Apple GeoPort Telecom Adapters would need only a
  software upgrade.


**Bandwidth Still Matters** -- Having said all this, you should
  not conclude that I believe bandwidth is unimportant. It is very
  important, but not in the way most people think. Bandwidth is
  valuable for its own sake, but also for its effect on overall
  latency - the important issue is the total end-to-end transmission
  delay for a data packet.

  Remember the example in the first part of this article comparing
  the capacity of a Boeing 747 to a 737? Here's a real world example
  of the same issue. Many people believe that a private 64 Kbps ISDN
  connection is as good (or even better) as a 1/160 share of a 10
  Mbps Ethernet connection. Telephone companies argue that ISDN is
  as good as new technologies like cable modems because though cable
  modems have much higher bandwidth, that bandwidth is shared
  between lots of users so the average works out the same. This
  reasoning is flawed, as the following example will show.

  Say we have a game where the data representing the game's overall
  state amounts to 40K. We have a game server, and in this simple
  example, the server transmits the entire game state to a player
  once every ten seconds. That's 40K every 10 seconds, an average of
  4K per second or 32 Kbps. That's only half the capacity of a 64
  Kbps ISDN line, and 160 users doing this on an Ethernet network
  will utilize only half the capacity of the Ethernet. So far so
  good: both links are running at 50 percent capacity, so the
  performance should be the same, right?

  Wrong. On the Ethernet, when the server sends the 40K to a player,
  the player can receive that data as little as 32 ms later (40K /
  10 Mbps). If the game server is not the only machine sending
  packets on the Ethernet, then there could be contention for the
  shared medium, but even in that case the average delay before the
  player receives the data is only 64 ms. On the ISDN line, when the
  server sends the 40K to a player, the player receives that data
  five seconds later (40K / 64 Kbps). In both cases the users have
  the same average bandwidth, but the actual performance is
  different. In the Ethernet case, the player receives the data
  almost instantly because of the connection's high capacity. But in
  the ISDN case, the connection's lower capacity means the
  information is already 5 seconds old when the player receives it.

  The problem is that sending a 40K chunk every ten seconds and
  sending data at a uniform rate of 4K per second are not the same
  thing. If they were, ISDN, ATM, and other telephone company
  schemes would be good ideas. Telephone companies assume all
  communications are like the flow of fluid in a pipe. You just tell
  them the rate of flow you need, and they tell you how big the pipe
  has to be. Voice calls work like the flow of fluid in a pipe, but
  computer data does not. Computer data comes in lumps. A common
  mistake is to think that sending 60K of data once per minute is
  exactly the same as sending 1K per second. It's not. A 1K per
  second connection may be sufficient _capacity_ to carry the amount
  of data you're sending, but that doesn't mean it will deliver the
  entire 60K in a timely fashion. It won't. By the time the lump
  finishes arriving, it will be one minute old.

  The conclusion here is obvious: the capacity of a connection has a
  profound affect on its performance. If you're given the choice
  between a low bandwidth private connection, or a small share of a
  larger bandwidth connection, take the small share. Again, this is
  painfully obvious outside the computer world. If a government said
  it would build either a large shared freeway, or a million, tiny,
  separate footpaths, one reserved for each citizen, which would you
  vote for?


**What Can You Do?** I've received numerous messages from people
  who want to know what they can do to spread the word about these
  latency and bandwidth problems. I've found that calling modem
  vendors directly is futile, so I recommend that you circulate
  these two articles to friends who might find them interesting, and
  most important, send letters to editors of major magazines asking
  them to include latency times via ping and traceroute when testing
  modems for review. Perhaps if we can raise awareness about the
  horrible latency problems that all modems suffer, modem
  manufacturers will start putting effort into decreasing latency
  instead of just increasing throughput.

  [Portions of this article come from Stuart Cheshire's white paper
  entitled "Latency and the Quest for Interactivity," commissioned
  by Volpe Welty Asset Management, L.L.C.]

<http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/papers/LatencyQuest.html>



$$

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TidBITS#369/10-Mar-97
=====================

  How long will you wait for Mac OS 8? Only a few months, as Apple
  re-christens Tempo. Also this week, we bring you news on a final
  release of CFM-68K, increases in Mac OS market share, and a sweet
  deal from Apple for some Performa owners. Plus, we take a look at
  feedback from readers on retail Macintosh sales, and Matt Neuburg
  offers an in-depth look at the multimedia authoring program
  SuperCard 3.0.

Topics:
    MailBITS/10-Mar-97
    Eight is Enough (and More Apple News)
    Front Lines Follow-up
    Surprised by SuperCard

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-369.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#369_10-Mar-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* EarthLink Network -- 800/395-8425 -- <sales@earthlink.net>
   Direct Internet access for Mac users. New Personal Start Page,
   no setup fee for TidBITS readers! <http://www.earthlink.net/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.1, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS#367! <--------- NEW!
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MailBITS/10-Mar-97
------------------

**CFM-68K 4.0 ** -- Apple has released version 4.0 of the CFM-68K
  Runtime Enabler, which corrects "all known problems" with previous
  versions of the component (see TidBITS-356_). CFM-68K allows
  applications that require the Code Fragment Manager (like
  LaserWriter 8.4, Cyberdog, AOL 3.0, and Microsoft Internet
  Explorer 3.0) to run on 68K machines. Now that a final version of
  CFM-68K is available, releases of CFM applications for 68K
  machines should appear shortly. [JLC]

<ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/
Macintosh/System/CFM-68K/>


**Info-Mac Shutting Down for Two Weeks** -- Beginning 12-Mar-97,
  the Info-Mac software archive and mailing list will be down for
  two weeks to allow the all-volunteer Info-Mac moderators to shift
  their operations from the venerable sumex-aim.stanford.edu to a
  new machine. No new uploads or digest messages will be accepted
  during this time, although Info-Mac mirrors worldwide will of
  course still be available. We'll put an announcement in TidBITS
  when Info-Mac is up and running at its new home at MIT. [GD]


**Fetch 3.0.2 Released** -- As companies have begun to use the
  Internet to deliver software directly to users, file sizes seem to
  have grown exponentially. And frequently, as you download these
  huge files, your modem connection will break, requiring you to
  download the whole thing again. Fetch 3.0.2 circumvents this
  problem by incorporating a Resume Download feature that attempts
  to pick up where the first connection left off, assuming the
  specific FTP server you're using supports it. Other improvements
  in this release include greater stability with Open Transport, and
  incorporation of Stuart Cheshire's Natural Order sorting algorithm
  (see TidBITS-364_). [JLC]

<http://www.dartmouth.edu/pages/softdev/fetch.html>


**Internal Ethernet for PowerBook 1400** -- Dayna Communications,
  Inc. recently announced plans to ship an internal Ethernet adapter
  for the PowerBook 1400 series this spring. The 10Base-T adapter
  will install under the laptop's keyboard rather than in one of the
  computer's two PC Card slots. Dayna and other manufacturers
  already offer PowerBook-compatible PC Cards with 10Base-T or
  10Base-2 (thin) Ethernet ports, and combination cards with
  Ethernet ports and data/fax modem features. [MHA]

<http://www.dayna.com/dayna/pressreleases/pb1400.html>


**WebTV Alertbox** -- After Mark Anbinder's article about the
  WebTV in TidBITS-367_, Keith Instone <instone@cs.bgsu.edu> wrote
  to suggest that we check out an article about the WebTV. Written
  by Jakob Nielsen (a SunSoft Distinguished Engineer) for his
  Alertbox column, the article looks in detail at the usability
  factors of the WebTV, and it's definitely worth reading if you're
  considering one. I also encourage you to take a look at Jakob's
  other Alertbox columns - I was especially intrigued by his 01-Mar-
  97 column about the need for speed on the Web, which comes to the
  conclusion that speed (meaning minimal graphics and multimedia
  effects) must be the overriding design criterion for Web pages,
  something we've long said here at TidBITS. [ACE]

<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9702a.html>


**TidBITS Search Tool Shootout Reminder** -- In TidBITS-368_, we
  announced details of our contest to find the best Macintosh-based
  Web search tools to be used on the 11 MB of TidBITS back issues.
  The winning solution (whether it's a specific product or creative
  implementation of several tools) will receive the main thing we
  have to give - exposure in TidBITS. The deadline for entering is
  fast approaching - 17-Mar-97 - so contact Managing Editor Jeff
  Carlson at <jeffc@tidbits.com> to participate. [JLC]


Eight is Enough (and More Apple News)
-------------------------------------
  by TidBITS Staff <editors@tidbits.com>

  In an unexpected move, Apple announced last week that Tempo, the
  next incremental release of the Mac OS due this July, will ship
  under the moniker Mac OS 8 instead of Mac OS 7.7. Apple claims
  Tempo is a significant technological and user experience upgrade,
  and includes features like a PowerPC-native, multi-threaded
  Finder, significant interface changes, and the spring-loaded
  folders originally intended for Copland (the now-scrapped
  operating system formerly known as Mac OS 8).

  It's widely rumored this re-christening has less to do with making
  operating system releases clear to customers than with Mac OS
  licensing fees. Clone vendors currently have licenses only for
  System 7, and may have to obtain new licenses for Mac OS 8.
  Although this may create new opportunities for the application-
  poor BeOS, the timing should come as no surprise: most clone
  vendors knew Apple planned to ship a Mac OS 8 in 1997 when they
  originally signed up. However, Apple could be looking to increase
  its flagging revenues at the expense of Mac OS licensees, which
  could hurt the Mac clone business, a dangerous move in today's
  market. [GD]

<http://macos.apple.com/macos/releases/macos8/naming.html>
<http://www.be.com/aboutbe/benewsletter/Issue63.html#Gassee>


**Mac OS Clone Sales** -- Dataquest recently released updated
  personal computer market share numbers that showed Apple's
  licensing of the Mac OS provided noticeable increase in the
  overall Mac OS market share for 1996. Apple Computer's share of
  the personal computer market was 6.7 percent in 1996, good for
  fifth place, but adding the Mac OS clones into the mix raises the
  numbers to 7.8 percent, or fourth place. In addition, Computer
  Intelligence just released numbers showing that the Mac OS market
  share in the U.S. dealer channel grew from 8 percent in Nov-96 to
  11 percent in Jan-97, again, due primarily to Mac OS clone sales.
  Interesting stuff, especially in light of Matt Deatherage's
  comments in TidBITS-363_. [ACE]

<http://www.ci.zd.com/news/macos.html>


**Apple Drops QuickDraw GX Printing** -- Due to limited user
  acceptance and developer support, Apple has announced it will not
  include the printing features of its QuickDraw GX technology in
  the upcoming Mac OS 8. Other aspects of QuickDraw GX, including
  typographic and object-based graphics, will be rolled into the OS
  release. [JLC]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/
970303.pr.rel.print.html>


**FTC Holds Apple Accountable** -- If you bought a Performa or LC
  550 or a Performa 560 after 01-Apr-94, you may be able to purchase
  a PowerPC upgrade for $599, including upgraded software and extra
  RAM - and if you already upgraded your machine to PowerPC, you
  might be able to get $776 back from Apple! The Federal Trade
  Commission has held Apple accountable for "false and misleading"
  advertising regarding PowerPC upgrades for these specific
  machines. Although Apple admitted no guilt, Apple will be
  contacting customers directly about rebates. If this settlement
  affects you, feel free to contact Apple directly with your
  machine's serial number or a proof of purchase. Apple Computer,
  Inc. -- 408/996-1010 [GD]


**More Developer Relations** -- Apple recently named David
  Krathwohl to replace the popular Heidi Roizen (see TidBITS-365_)
  as the vice president of Apple Developer Relations. Although we
  haven't heard a much from developers about the move, David has the
  background for the job, having managed Developer Relations in
  Europe for three years, after which Heidi named him director of
  International Developer Relations. [ACE]


Front Lines Follow-up
---------------------
  by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>

  Back in TidBITS-367_, Ian Gregson reported on his experiences
  while working at Future Shop during the last holiday shopping
  season, and suggested that Apple could improve sales by better
  convincing consumers that they want Macs and by better rewarding
  salespeople who sell Macs. Several readers wrote in to support and
  augment these views.


**Peter Miller** <ocean@mpx.com.au> gave an Australian
  perspective, commenting that customer service is also important:

  Down here in Sydney we have a number of Mac outlets, including
  Apple Centres, approved resellers, and the ubiquitous
  MacWarehouse. They are uniformly below what could be considered a
  reasonable level of service for any consumer item. The situation
  is so bad that recently my office manager told a MacWarehouse
  administrator that we would gladly pay extra for reasonable
  service...

  Apple is being remiss in (at least) two ways: firstly they should
  be looking after the Mac evangelists and should have stuck with
  them despite the vast price differences between platforms.
  Secondly, they need intelligent sales representatives that
  actively promote and support the product. Neither of these things
  seem to happen here.


**Francis Drake** <fdrake3335@aol.com> wrote in from the
  southeastern U.S. to share concerns over Mac upkeep:

  I live in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. Lately, when I visit
  the local superstores (such as Computer City or CompUSA) and
  pass by the "Mac ghettos" they're invariably smaller than they
  used to be or don't exist at all, the demo machines don't work,




and sales staff is nonexistent.


**Jeri Croucher **<fsjkc1@aurora.alaska.edu> from Alaska, shared
  concerns with the supply of new Macs and repair parts:

  I am a salesperson at a computer store in Fairbanks, Alaska. I
  sell many more Macs than I do PCs because I believe that the
  first-time computer user will probably do much better on a Mac.
  However, lately selling Macs has been difficult. When the new
  PowerBooks were released, I took orders for eight. All of these
  orders were cancelled within a few months by customers who needed
  a portable computer _now_. The store just received its first
  PowerBook 1400 two weeks ago. These machines were ordered the day
  Apple released them. Who can blame me if next time I suggest a
  customer buy something I know I can get? Also, when a machine
  needs a repair, often there is a long wait for the part. I have
  had customers with Macs less than two months old wait up to six
  months for a repair part. I think everyone should own a Mac but I
  am disturbed at the way the company is handling business.
  Advertising will do nothing until Apple can live up to its end of
  the bargain with support and supply.


**Shawn King** <sking@direct.ca>, wrote to both TidBITS and to Guy
  Kawasaki's EvangeList with comments and suggestions for Apple:

  I have been the Apple Demo Days Supervisor here in Western Canada
  for the past two promotions. I can tell you from personal
  experience Apple does a lousy job of communicating to the non-
  computer using consumer. I had dozens of customers a day,
  customers that are the perfect market for Performas (Mom, Dad, 2.2
  kids, etc.) who knew Macs are easy to use but who didn't want to
  buy a computer that was "out-of-date" or "from a company going out
  of business." Rather than showing customers features that blow
  them away like the TV Tuner Card, QTVR, ease of Internet setup,
  and Megaphone, we spent an inordinate amount of time explaining
  Apple. The lack of fight in Apple is perceived by the consumer
  that Apple has given up and is just "clearing stock."


**Chilly Climate** -- Given the overall climate in the computer
  industry, frankly, Apple gets enough bad press [most of which
  comes in the form of "news" reports and opinion columns, rather
  than users' honest comments. -Jeff]. However, TidBITS didn't
  receive any feedback giving opposing examples to problems cited in
  Ian's article.

  I'd love for someone in a leadership role at Apple to outline a
  plan for addressing these problems and periodically share the
  progress in implementing the plan. Take America Online: they have
  a big problem - it's difficult to connect to their service since
  they instituted flat-rate pricing. What are they doing? Running
  prime-time TV ads about how they are solving the problem. The ad I
  saw last night even mentioned how many new phone lines they've
  added recently. Little would please me more than - six months from
  now - writing a glowing article describing how Apple is
  implementing a crisp and polished sales strategy for the next
  holiday shopping season.


Surprised by SuperCard
----------------------
  by Matt Neuburg <matt@tidbits.com>

  As a long-time user of Apple's HyperCard, I had never given
  SuperCard a glance. HyperCard, when it was free, had been my
  reason for first buying a Macintosh; with it, I've written
  language-lab courseware and distributed stacks on the net, and I
  still reach for it to contrive spontaneous solutions when
  information storage or task automation beckons. It's easy: you
  draw buttons for clicking, and fields to hold text, arrange them
  on "cards" (sets of window contents), and endow it all with
  functionality through HyperTalk, an English-like, powerful, mildly
  object-oriented, dynamic scripting language. Presto, you've put up
  a Mac-like interface to a homemade program.

  My HyperCard loyalty verges on fanaticism; a once-again free
  HyperCard figures heavily in my secret, mad strategy to save the
  Mac. Nevertheless after HyperCard's explosive development between
  1987 and 1991, it languished and nearly died at version 2.1. True,
  in early 1994, version 2.2 appeared, a major upgrade that greatly
  heartened users, including me. But progress since then, although
  we're now at version 2.3.5, has been all but insignificant.
  HyperCard 3, Apple's planned port to QuickTime, seems an
  intriguing but as-yet distant dream.

  SuperCard, meanwhile, I knew of only by hearsay, as a "HyperCard
  wannabe." Then I saw SuperCard demonstrated at Macworld Expo in
  January and wondered: what if, after all, this was HyperCard done
  right?

  SuperCard was created by Silicon Beach Software, eventually
  acquired by Aldus. Allegiant Technologies, Inc., then broke away
  from Aldus to take over SuperCard's development. That was at the
  end of 1993; thus, exactly while HyperCard has seemed most
  moribund, SuperCard has most vigorously evolved. SuperCard 3.0, a
  major upgrade, was unveiled just this past December. [A 3.0.1
  updater that improves performance is available via the Allegiant
  Web site. -Adam]

<http://www.allegiant.com/>


**Objects All Sublime** -- SuperCard rethinks and extends the
  HyperCard battery of objects. The top of HyperCard's hierarchy is
  the stack; changing windows means changing stacks, unless you use
  an XCMD to put up an "external" window. SuperCard starts with the
  "project"; one project can open another, but it can also contain
  multiple windows, and each window, though in effect a HyperCard
  stack, can be of any standard type, including dialogs and floating
  palettes.

  Menus are similarly well integrated. A project can contain
  multiple menu sets, each containing menus which contain menu
  items. Both menus and menu items are full-fledged objects, both
  containing scripts and receiving messages.

  Like a HyperCard stack, a SuperCard window has backgrounds and
  cards, and these can contain buttons and fields. But they can also
  contain graphics; these too contain scripts and receive mouse-
  event messages, just like a button. A graphic can be a bitmapped
  rectangular region, or it can be vector-based, thus taking up
  little memory and adopting any standard shape (rectangle, oval,
  arc, roundrect, polygon, or freehand). Since buttons themselves
  can be polygons, too, it's no wonder that "Anything can be a
  button" was once a SuperCard motto.

  The SuperTalk language is mostly a superset of HyperTalk,
  extending it in clever and desirable ways. Some telling examples:
  there's a "case" control structure; besides the string offset
  function, there's the lineOffset that tells you in what line of
  one string another is found; the "describe" function makes lists
  of similar features, such as all the buttons of this background;
  the textHeightSum tells you the pixel height of all text in a
  field as currently wrapped; you can set not just the itemDelimiter
  but the wordDelimiter and the lineDelimiter as well. The message-
  passing hierarchy beats HyperCard's too, especially when
  HyperCard's "start using" feature is generalized to allow
  insertion of scripts from any object at either the bottom or the
  top of the hierarchy.

  In just one respect, I feel, SuperCard's structure falls short.
  Imagine a stack (project) of to-do items: every card contains a
  field describing the item, plus a checkbox to show if the item is
  completed. Since these elements are common to all cards, they
  should be background items; but SuperCard background buttons
  cannot have different highlighting on each card (checkbox checking
  is considered highlighting). The same problem vitiates one of
  SuperCard's most brilliant innovations: user properties. You can
  define and manipulate custom properties for any object, thus
  associating information directly with the object to which it
  pertains; yet a background object cannot have different values for
  its user properties on different cards. To me, that undermines the
  value of background objects.


**The Multimedia Is the Message** -- In line with its image as a
  multimedia tool comparable to Macromedia Director, SuperCard
  integrates many features to dazzle and entertain the end-user. Of
  these, the most welcome to HyperCarders is surely color, which is
  fully built in. Vector graphics, fields, and buttons can have
  colored and patterned frame and fill. In fields, a character style
  can involve color. Buttons can have color icons (but not,
  curiously, colored text). Vector graphics can contain colored
  text, or a picture image (importable from various popular
  formats). Overlapping colors can interact in complex ways via many
  transparency, blending, and addition effects. Custom color tables
  and import of 16-bit and 24-bit bitmaps allow top-quality images.

  Powerful movie commands let you manipulate QuickTime to your
  heart's content, and if that isn't enough you can play PICS
  animations and PICT "filmstrips" - plus, objects can be made to
  move along paths, and change their pictures or icons. Sounds can
  be played either from resources or from AIFF/AIFC files, and you
  can access text-to-speech through the Speech Manager. Since these
  effects are available asynchronously, your project can easily
  become a riot of activity and sound.


**Edit for Your Life **-- The SuperCard environment is not fully
  dynamic; you are either running a project as an end-user, or you
  are editing it to add, remove, and alter objects, with system
  messages suppressed. The two states do overlap somewhat: in run
  mode you can still edit scripts, and in edit mode you can still
  send messages via the message box. Nevertheless, the dichotomy
  seems unfamiliar and awkward to a HyperCard user (and the
  transition between the two modes is rather tedious on my 68K
  machine).

  Editing uses the new Project Editor, a set of windows, floating
  palettes, and menus which themselves are a SuperCard project, an
  astonishing demonstration of SuperCard's power (and a commendable
  example of the toolmakers relying on their own tool, a practice
  which invariably improves the tool). The Project Editor supersedes
  SuperCard's earlier editing environment, called SuperEdit - which
  is still included (because not all its functions could be emulated
  by the Project Editor), even though it has not been upgraded for
  SuperCard's new entities.

  The result is a hybrid. Only SuperEdit can edit cursors, icons,
  color tables, and bitmaps in close-up ("fatbits"); only SuperEdit
  lets you shape polygon buttons via auto-tracing, or replace a
  card's background without affecting its card layer. But it ignores
  color icons, and can't import PICT resources into graphics. In
  general, you're expected to work in Project Editor and quit out to
  SuperEdit only when necessary. It's disconcerting.

  The good news is that many of the Project Editor tools are just
  what HyperCarders are starved for. The Property Inspector palette
  lists and lets you select every object of the current card or
  background, then shows and lets you set the selected object's
  name, position, size, and major properties. The Project Browser
  lets you list, select, create, and delete windows, cards,
  backgrounds, and menus - plus it includes a resource copier. There
  are palettes for object color and object text. Object editing
  includes the ability to align, scale, and rotate objects, lock
  them to prevent accidents, and even group them into new compound
  objects. A fine Search feature lets you look for text in names,
  scripts, or contents, and restrict your search to various object
  subsets, obtaining a clickable list of objects and scripts.

  Best of all is the message box - why on earth didn't HyperCard do
  it this way? The SuperCard message box has two parts, one for your
  command, the other for SuperCard's response (whereas HyperCard's
  response overwrites your command). The response area can be
  enlarged and scrolled so you can see a whole multi-line response,
  and your commands are saved into a history pane for later
  repetition. But why didn't Allegiant go all the way and let the
  command area be multi-lined too, so that you could type and run a
  utility script from it? Instead, you have to create a handler in
  some object's script and then call it, as in HyperCard.

  Script editing takes place in a modal dialog box that covers the
  screen and can't be resized (unless you're in SuperEdit). I find
  this unpleasant and astonishingly primitive; while editing a
  script, one needs to investigate objects and consult other
  scripts.


**What's Up, Docs?** The manuals are not at all bad, considering
  the size of the subject. There are quite a number of misprints,
  including occasional howlers where a crucial sentence asserts
  exactly the opposite of the truth. There's also a certain amount
  of repetition; the manuals are a bit out of synch with what's
  actually shipped, and some of the coolest new features are
  omitted. But much effort has evidently gone into making the
  manuals both compendious and instructive, and it has paid off.


**Letting Go** -- SuperCard projects can be released in three
  forms. The project itself can be given to someone who has
  SuperCard or the free SuperCard Player. Or, the project may be
  built into a stand-alone application. Or, the project (provided it
  has but one window, and subject to many other restrictions) may be
  played over the Internet through a Web browser using the free
  Roadster Web browser plug-in.

  I tried to convert a project into a stand-alone and found the
  process harrowing. My main difficulty turned out to be SuperCard's
  handling of color icons from its SharedFile library. These need to
  be transferred into the project, but if you set up the Standalone
  Maker utility to do this automatically it changes the icons' ID
  numbers and the project can no longer see them. So you have to
  find all color icons manually and move them into the project, then
  change every button that uses them to see its newly renumbered
  icon. This took a couple of hours, and the interface was buggy and
  crude. At the end of the process the Standalone Maker quit with an
  unexplained error and I never got my stand-alone. I did learn that
  a stand-alone aimed at 68K machines adds nearly 1 MB to the size
  of the project, much more than the 540K claimed by the manuals.

  I didn't have the wherewithal to test the Roadster distribution
  method properly for this review. It's intriguing, though, and the
  manual outlines numerous techniques for loading data so the
  project will start running on the user's machine before all the
  resources and data have downloaded (and even how to behave if
  particular data or media is not yet available). Acceptance is the
  real problem - whether people will download a 1 MB browser plug-in
  just to view your project, especially with so many other plug-ins,
  plus Java, clamoring for attention.

  SuperCard won't replace HyperCard in my personal software arsenal,
  because to me they aren't in the same category. To throw together
  a solution for personal use, HyperCard will always get the nod:
  it's faster, smaller, and far more convenient. And even though
  Allegiant touts HyperCard compatibility, few of my existing
  HyperCard stacks could be effectively ported to SuperCard, because
  they each rely on HyperCard features that SuperCard lacks: its
  ability to print reports and fields; its full scriptability (and
  its capacity to run OSA scripts internally); its use of fields for
  list-selection (SuperCard has list-selection fields but you can't
  style individual chunks of text in them); its far better sorting;
  its Boolean card-marking; and (as already mentioned) its use of
  non-shared background button highlighting. I believe that these
  shortcomings could mostly be worked around or made up for by XCMDs
  (not all of them free), but it's interesting that the focus of my
  HyperCard stacks is so exactly SuperCard's missing features.

  Nonetheless, to build and distribute stand-alone applications that
  don't need any of these features (since presumably my issues with
  Standalone Maker can be ironed out), SuperCard ought to be ideal.
  Its rational design shows up HyperCard for the quirky, misshapenly
  grown plant that it is. Its extended HyperCard-like metaphor is a
  powerful, easy, and flexible way to make an interactive
  application, and its integrated color and other multimedia effects
  ensure high presentation value. I do think the price tag (at about
  $330) is somewhat high, though the academic version comes in at a
  more reasonable $129, with site license options. If you know a
  current SuperCard user, that user may have received a mailing
  enabling them to share with you Allegiant's recent $149.95
  "SuperCard for a Friend" offer. Still, SuperCard 3.0 is a major
  upgrade of a product that deserves to attract serious attention;
  perhaps it will get it despite the price.


**DealBITS** --  Cyberian Outpost is offering SuperCard to TidBITS
  readers for $317.95 ($10 off Cyberian Outpost's regular price)
  through this URL:

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/super-card.html>

    Allegiant Technologies, Inc. -- 800/255-8258 -- 619/587-0500
      619/587-1314 (fax) -- <info@allegiant.com>


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TidBITS#370/17-Mar-97
=====================

  Last week brought us "black Friday" as Apple announced employee
  layoffs and another restructuring; this week, Adam looks at what
  Apple's keeping, setting aside, and putting into maintenance mode.
  We also bring you news on Java and Shockwave security problems and
  a PowerPC update to QuicKeys, plus a detailed review of Digital
  Chisel, an easy-to-use multimedia authoring and Web publishing
  tool aimed at kids.

Topics:
    MailBITS/17-Mar-97
    Apple Computer '97: What's In, What's Out
    Digital Chisel: An Elegant Eye-Opener

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-370.html>
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MailBITS/17-Mar-97
------------------

**Java and Shockwave Security** -- Although mainstream media has
  been saturated recently with news of security issues in the
  Windows version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, a different
  security problem in Sun's Java received comparatively little
  attention. Basically, it's possible for a Java applet to disable
  security safeguards and grant itself full access to the local
  machine. It's important to note the problem is very difficult to
  exploit, but theoretically affects anyone licensing Java
  technology from Sun. Microsoft has released a 500K update to its
  Java implementations for the Mac version of Internet Explorer;
  Netscape 3.0 doesn't use Sun's Java, and isn't impacted.

<http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security/java.htm>
<http://www.javasoft.com/sfaq/index.html>

  Another, more easily exploited security problem involves
  Macromedia's Shockwave Director plug-in in conjunction with Web
  browsers (particularly Netscape Navigator). Essentially, it's
  possible to author a Shockwave Director movie that can
  clandestinely read email or files on a user's machine, along with
  documents residing on other Internet servers, even behind a
  corporate firewall. The relative simplicity of this particular
  oversight highlights the possibility other simple loopholes in a
  variety of products. A pre-release of Streaming Shockwave 6
  reportedly does not exhibit these problems, but otherwise the only
  way to make sure you're not vulnerable is to de-install Shockwave.
  [GD]

<http://www.webcomics.com/shockwave/>
<http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/plugin.cgi>


**Quicker QuicKeys** -- CE Software has (finally) released a
  PowerPC native version of QuicKeys, their powerful tool for
  assigning keyboard shortcuts and automating tasks (see
  TidBITS-347_). Also included with this update are pre-made
  toolbars for popular applications such as Photoshop, PageMaker,
  and Netscape Navigator, in addition to a Finder toolbar. QuicKeys
  3.5 owners can download a 1.8 MB update from CE Software. [JLC]

<http://www.cesoft.com/quickeys/qkppc.html>


**Fetch 3.0.3** -- Last week, we noted the release of Fetch 3.0.2,
  which added a Resume Download feature and enhanced Open Transport
  support. Shortly thereafter, Fetch 3.0.3 emerged, which fixes a
  View File bug that dropped the first character of the file being
  viewed. [JLC]

<http://www.dartmouth.edu/pages/softdev/fetch.html>


Apple Computer '97: What's In, What's Out
-----------------------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  By now you've all heard about Apple's cold turkey diet regime for
  cutting costs in an effort to return to profitability in 1997.
  Let's take a quick look at what was cut, what's on life support,
  and what survived. If you want to see the official word, check out
  these press releases, then come back for some analysis.

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/
970314.pr.rel.restructure.html>
<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/
970314.pr.rel.faq.html>


**2,700 Employees** -- Apple announced plans to lay off 2,700
  full-time employees out of a total of about 11,000. Also being
  terminated are 1,400 of 2,400 contractors and temporary employees.
  Many of those employees worked on technologies that are being cut,
  although Apple's Advanced Technology Group (ATG) was reportedly
  hard hit. About 55 percent of the layoffs are in the U.S., with
  the rest coming from international groups. Interestingly, in
  response to a question during the analysts' conference call on
  Friday, Apple executives said none of the layoffs were hitting
  Apple Japan.

  There's nothing good about laying off employees, other than the
  cold-blooded bottom line numbers, but I suspect these Apple
  employees will have relatively little trouble finding new jobs. I
  hear Microsoft's popular MS Bay Macintosh development group (the
  folks responsible for Internet Explorer for the Mac) are hiring
  like crazy.


**ATG** -- Speaking of ATG, a good deal of Apple's basic research
  has been eliminated, which could prove problematic a few years
  down the road. Apple executives said that 90 percent of future R&D
  would be devoted to education, publishing, and human interface
  design. They claimed that they were aiming to make the ATG budget
  five percent of sales, down from about six percent last year. That
  doesn't sound bad, but when you think about how sales have
  dropped, the cuts equal about a third of the ATG budget. The Apple
  executives noted that Compaq and other major PC vendors typically
  spend only one to two percent of sales on R&D.


**Performa** -- In my opinion, the smartest cut Apple made was of
  the Performa brand name (although existing Performas will remain
  in the channel until sold out, when they'll be replaced by Power
  Macs). I've never liked the Performa branding; when it first
  appeared, I commented back in TidBITS-142_: "The name, which
  appeared soon after Compaq's Prolinea line, doesn't impress me,
  and I worry about the recycling of technology into a new product
  line... It shows that the Performa line is primarily a marketing
  move." I thought then that users would be confused by the name,
  since it wasn't inherently clear that a Performa even was a
  Macintosh, and the rapid proliferation of model numbers made it
  impossible for even those of us who watch the Mac closely to track
  each model. On Friday, Apple finally admitted that confusing
  consumers who want Macs is a bad thing.


**Videoconferencing** -- Apple has dropped its videoconferencing
  products and technologies in favor of solutions from other
  companies. Overall, this strikes me as a good move -
  videoconferencing hasn't been a killer application because of the
  bandwidth needed, and other companies have more experience and
  more interest in the field. Apple can't do everything, and
  videoconferencing must be completely cross-platform to succeed in
  a commercial way. Let someone else do it.


**AIX and the Network Servers** -- Apple's recently-introduced,
  high-end Network Servers run AIX, a version of Unix from IBM.
  Although the Network Servers have been well-received by the high-
  end publishing crowd, Apple has decided to pull AIX from future
  servers, which will instead run either the Mac OS or Rhapsody, the
  code name for the first version of the Mac OS based on NeXT
  technologies. Apple will support existing customers, and I suspect
  those machines will continue to work just fine. This doesn't feel
  like a bad decision either - Apple can't waste effort supporting
  too many operating systems.


**Biannual System Updates** -- A while back, Apple promised major
  retail Mac OS updates every six months, with minor bug fixes every
  three months or so. It was a bold announcement, and I hope whoever
  made it enjoyed the taste of the words. After Tempo, now called
  Mac OS 8, which will debut in July, biannual System updates are a
  thing of the past. Apple executives admitted that the programmers
  simply couldn't get software out the door that fast. The schedule
  now calls for the "premier" release of Rhapsody to appear at the
  end of 1997, and Apple will try for a yearly release schedule of
  major updates, with minor bug fixes coming every six months. I
  think this is all just posturing. Scheduling in the computer
  industry is known to be fantasy: there's nothing wrong with Apple
  announcing schedules and trying to stick to them, but anyone who
  believes that Apple (or anyone else) can do so consistently is
  dreaming.


**Maintenance Mode** -- The items mentioned above are now history.
  However, a number of other technologies have been placed in
  "maintenance mode." It's still not quite clear what that means,
  although I suspect that bug fixes will be made and updates to
  support new hardware may happen, but there won't be much more.
  Apple's press release claims: "Most of the elements of Mac OS
  today are maintained in this sense today - yet customers and
  developers use them daily. Apple continues to improve the
  reliability and performance of the overall system including
  technologies that have not seen major updates in years.
  Furthermore, these technologies will reside in Rhapsody as part of
  the Mac OS layer (the 'Blue Box') that will run today's software
  for years to come on a faster, more reliable foundation." Keep
  that in mind when I talk about the following items.


**Open Transport** -- On the face of it, I think putting Open
  Transport in maintenance mode and switching to a Unix-derived
  Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) networking scheme on top of
  the Mach kernel is an idiotic move. Apple went through serious
  pain to transition AppleTalk and the aging MacTCP to Open
  Transport, and after an initial bad version (forced by the release
  of the Power Mac 9500) Open Transport has proved a solid, flexible
  performer that meets the many and varied needs of Macintosh users.

  Questions surrounding this move abound for Rhapsody. For instance,
  how will Apple support AppleTalk in a BSD-based networking
  implementation? What about plug & play networking? What about
  security (you don't see many $10,000 security challenges being
  hosted on Unix BSD-based systems)? And what about features already
  demonstrated for the now-cancelled Open Transport 1.5, including
  IPv6 and multi-homing? I'll be writing more about this issue soon,
  because if interface is the heart of the Mac, networking is the
  soul.


**OpenDoc** -- Apple seems to believe that OpenDoc and Java fill
  similar roles in the world of component software technologies.
  Although I'm not sufficiently technical to verify that (any
  programmers want to write an article about it?), the feeling was
  that it was wasteful to put effort into OpenDoc when so many
  developers consider Java to be the feline's sleepwear, and
  OpenStep already offers a powerful model for component software
  development. OpenDoc will continue to be supported in the Blue
  Box, but I can't see any reason why independent developers should
  continue OpenDoc development. Overall, I think it's a shame, given
  that OpenDoc was just starting to turn the corner, as noted back
  in TidBITS-365_. Apple put a lot of effort into developing OpenDoc
  and evangelizing developers; if I were one of those developers,
  I'd be utterly disillusioned right now.


**Cyberdog** -- Speaking of disillusionment, I imagine Joe Kissell
  and David McKee, authors of a cool book called Cyberdog: Live
  Objects on the Internet, must be feeling pretty low. Cyberdog was
  OpenDoc's killer application (if that term can apply to a
  document-centric technology), and Apple has put it in the same
  maintenance mode as OpenDoc. Cyberdog 2.0, which is currently in
  beta, and OpenDoc will ship with Mac OS 8 in July, so they'll
  still be available for people to use, but it's hard to recommend
  that people use Cyberdog in favor of competing technologies that
  have a future. I imagine the version of Netscape Navigator once
  promised for Cyberdog can be forgotten too.


**Game Sprockets** -- Game Sprockets was a set of libraries and
  tools designed to make it easy to program games for the Macintosh.
  Like OpenDoc and Cyberdog, it will continue to live on in its
  existing form in the Blue Box. Ironically, that will mean that
  games written using Game Sprockets will only run in the Blue Box,
  just as there are PC games today that only run in DOS, not
  Windows. Although I don't have any opinion about Game Sprockets in
  particular, I think the game market is an important one for a
  computer that's aimed at the individual consumer, and Apple had
  better do something to ensure that game developers want to
  continue developing for the Mac.


**Mac OS Development Tools** -- Apple has created numerous tools
  for programming the Mac OS over the years, and although those
  tools will remain available, Apple is concentrating instead on
  development tools for Rhapsody. Although a tremendous amount of
  code for current Macintosh applications was written using Apple
  tools like MPW and MacApp, programmers were already aware they'd
  have to use new tools to develop for Rhapsody, and many already
  rely on tools from independent developers such as Metrowerks and
  Symantec.


**Alive and Well** -- All this doom and gloom shouldn't give you
  the impression that Apple is closing up shop to become, as one
  joke press release suggested, a non-profit corporation. Apple
  still makes a lot of money (they're estimating about $8 billion
  for 1997), and Amelio and company have given some products and
  technologies a respite, presumably for the cash flow they bring
  in.


**Newton** -- I'm sure a collective sigh of relief went up from
  Newton owners and developers when Apple announced that the Newton
  division would emerge unscathed. The Newton MessagePad 2000 and
  eMate 300 are now shipping and have been well received, so they
  survive... for now. Apple's press release notes: "Apple is
  exploring a wide range of options for future Newton business. We
  have no specifics regarding those discussions at this time." To my
  mind, this means one of three things, and I have to admit that I
  don't much care which so long as the Newton technology survives
  and moves forward. Take your pick of:

* Apple continues to work on the Newton internally.
* Apple spins the Newton division off into its own company.
* Apple sells the Newton division to some other company.


**Claris** -- I don't believe that Claris was ever in much
  jeopardy, and the wholly owned subsidiary will continue earning
  money for Apple. Claris reported record revenues of $67 million
  for the first quarter of fiscal year 1997, and revenues of $236.2
  million in 1996. Demand for Claris's products has remained strong
  on both the Mac and Windows, with FileMaker Pro 3.0 for Windows
  becoming the second best-selling database in the PC desktop
  database market. The Mac version has long been the best-selling
  Macintosh database.


**Mac OS Licences** -- Rumors have been flying that Apple hopes to
  increase revenues by charging the Mac OS licensees more for the
  right to make Mac clones. As explained during Friday's conference
  call, nothing has changed in this situation. The fees will change
  at some point soon, but that's because currently Mac OS licensees
  also license Apple's hardware designs, the so-called "Tanzania"
  motherboard. Once it's possible to make CHRP (Common Hardware
  Reference Platform) machines, clone makers won't have to license
  the Tanzania motherboard, and Apple has always planned at that
  point to adjust the license fees to account for the new situation.


**Loyal Customers?** I'd like to close by noting that in the
  analysts' conference Apple's executives went on a bit about how
  the company's greatest asset is its loyal customers. In the past
  that's certainly been true, and it may still be true now that the
  company has lost so much money, laid off so many employees, and
  discontinued so many technologies. However, from talking to
  numerous users and developers, it seems to me that although
  loyalty to the Macintosh and all it embodies may remain, loyalty
  to Apple as a company is hitting an all-time low. There's a big
  difference, and I'm not sure it's one that Apple's management
  realizes. One of the executives commented that Apple would reward
  loyal customers by continuing to build great products. I would
  question if that's likely in the near future or, more important,
  it it's sufficient to reward the years of loyalty so many people
  have shown in the face of continual derision and obstacles.


Digital Chisel: An Elegant Eye-Opener
-------------------------------------
  by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>

  Digital Chisel HTML 2.1.3, affectionately known as "the Chisel,"
  comes from Pierian Springs Software, and it's used by teachers and
  students to devise snazzy multimedia presentations, tutorials, and
  even tests. Digital Chisel HTML recently added "HTML" to its name,
  and - intrigued by the HTML aspects - I decided to review the new
  version. I thought it would be eye-opening to try a totally
  different approach to creating Web sites than that offered by
  page-oriented software like PageMill or tag-focused software like
  BBEdit.

  I found Digital Chisel to be a fun, elegant product whose
  presentations can run under the freely distributable Digital
  Chisel Player or be converted to Web sites. Digital Chisel
  projects resemble HyperCard stacks, with screens linked together
  by buttons. Developers needn't worry about code at all, and the
  Digital Chisel Player takes care of behind-the-scenes operations
  like recording test scores.

<http://www.pierian.com/>

  Kids and teachers are making Chisel projects of all sorts: the
  life cycle of salmon, mock commercials about missions to Mars, and
  digital portfolios. In addition, students are making quizzes for
  other students to take, and teachers are producing serious tests.


**Objects of Desire** -- When working in Digital Chisel, you work
  on one screen at a time, though it's easy to switch screens.
  Screens contain text, graphics, animations, and sounds, which - as
  far as Digital Chisel is concerned - are "objects." You can drag
  objects anywhere you like, even overlapping other objects. Any
  object can be animated, either along a path or as part of a
  simple, flipbook-style movie. Objects can be created within
  Digital Chisel, imported from disk, or accessed from Chisel
  libraries, which provide a quick way to browse groups of objects.

  Digital Chisel comes with 25 or so sounds, including the likes of
  Aooga and Dinosaur Growl. The package also includes a few
  QuickTime movies, a number of general clip-art images, and a
  library of 70-odd useful and attractive button images.

  I started my first screen by drawing out a text object and typing
  inside it. Text can be formatted with a fairly normal array of
  styles, fonts, sizes, and colors. In some kids' programs, I've
  seen special formats like big bubbles and sparkles, but the Chisel
  has no such novel formats. Text can also be turned into hot links
  leading to pop-up notes. For instance, a hot link might define a
  new vocabulary word.

  After figuring out text, I moved on to graphics. Graphics can be
  drawn as vector-based images (where images consist of shapes that
  can be re-sized or re-colored) or painted as collections of pixels
  located in a user-defined paint object. I especially liked the
  ability to insert some pre-drawn objects like arrows and stars.
  One frustration was the color palette. The palette has plenty of
  colors, arranged in a 16 by 16 square. I had a hard time
  remembering exactly which colors I had used previously, and the
  Chisel has no eyedropper, custom palette, or other tool that might
  have refreshed my memory.

  Not wanting to stop at simple text and graphics, I moved on to
  adding sounds. Digital Chisel can import sounds, but I used the
  simple recording interface to record my own. (Several teachers
  told me that their kids especially like this feature; apparently
  they like to play back their voices.) I made some sounds that
  played when users clicked buttons and others that played
  automatically when a screen first opened. Similarly, it's possible
  to create or insert QuickTime movies. You make a QuickTime movie
  one frame at a time, and you'd better get it right, because
  there's no way to go back and edit the frames. In addition,
  there's no way to add sound to a movie.


**Moving Target** -- Once you've set up a few objects, you can
  call it quits, or you can figure that the fun is just beginning.
  Double-click any object and a palette comes up that enables you to
  set which events happen when the mouse moves over the object, when
  the mouse button is pressed over the object, or when the button is
  released over the object. Objects can change color, animate along
  a path, play sounds, speak words, cause a portion of a CD or video
  disk to play, and more. Just one event can happen, or up to 24
  events can happen. For instance, in my project (which was about
  how Adam and his father cut down a dead tree in our back yard [a
  technically tricky and heroic procedure involving chainsaws that
  resulted in minor damage to only two feet of our deck's railing,
  rather than the total obliteration of the deck from the 100-foot
  tall dead hemlock. -Adam]), I made a person move to look at the
  dead tree, and then say, "oh no!" In effect, every object is
  potentially a button.

  Buttons can also link to other screens, and you could easily
  design and implement your own navigation bar, or use buttons to
  jump users around in the project. (Those who don't want to build
  their own navigational devices, however, can use the default
  navigation toolbar). If you'll be exporting to HTML, you can also
  link buttons to URLs.


**Change of Screen** -- In addition to customizing what happens
  when an object is moused, you can set things to happen as a new
  screen opens. Any screen can open with a transition effect, such
  as a zoom or a "venetian blind" open. In addition sounds and
  movies can play when a screen opens.


**Quizzes** -- Any screen can be part of an online quiz, and
  Digital Chisel comes with optional templates to speed the quiz
  creation process. In the case of tests having fixed answers (like
  multiple choice or true/false), the screen can be told which
  answer is correct, and during testing respond based on whether a
  student chooses the correct answer. Students taking quizzes can
  indicate who they are, and any Chisel project can record quiz
  results in a simple database.


**Stepping onto the Web** -- Digital Chisel has taken the big step
  of adding HTML export features. The export works on an entire
  project at once, or you can export individual pages. The HTML
  export turns each screen into a Web page and converts the
  navigation bar into appropriate buttons. Hot text links connect to
  anchors further down on the page. To place objects correctly,
  Digital Chisel utilizes tables and specifies cell widths by the
  pixel. To maintain some semblance of how the font looked in
  Digital Chisel, it employs the <FONT> tag with size and color
  attributes. Pages with test questions do not convert to HTML.

  Although I normally disapprove of pixel-specific layouts (see
  TidBITS-362_), to my surprise, I found myself not minding Chisel
  using a pixel-specific technique. Chisel authors are inherently
  designing for the screen and can set the assumed screen size.
  Digital Chisel calls its parts "screens," not "pages," and
  displays them in a landscape orientation (since most screens are
  wider than they are high). That assumption means Digital Chisel is
  coming at the Web from a completely different mindset than the
  shock-blink-and-frame crowd, and it's great that Chisel
  presentations can be placed on the Web instead of living out their
  lives in the relative obscurity of the Digital Chisel Player.

  I was not satisfied with the HTML export because objects tended to
  end up misaligned, and working with the table tags in the
  resulting HTML documents proved frustrating. I also thought that
  hot text links should open a new page or window instead of linking
  to the bottom of the page. And, as an HTML-savvy adult, I wanted
  more control over decisions like using the <FONT> tag. However, in
  this version of Digital Chisel, I think it's important to consider
  the HTML export a possibly handy add-on, not a raison d'etre.
  Unlike many sub-par HTML editing tools whose marketers say that
  the tool may lack features but works wonderfully for kids and
  novice adults, this product is _intended_ for kids. What features
  belong in an HTML product for kids remain to be seen, and I
  suspect that Pierian Springs is working hard on this issue, since
  their upcoming 3.0 version will offer more Web-related features.


**Review Roundup** -- I have little first-hand appreciation for
  what a twelve-year-old might find lacking in the program, but
  features I missed were style sheets for text and a grid for lining
  up screen elements. (It's possible to set a temporary grid on the
  background - each screen can have a background, and backgrounds
  can be shared, much like master pages in PageMaker). I've spent a
  lot of time working with the likes of Claris Home Page and
  Symantec Visual Page, so I missed the freedom of importing objects
  via drag & drop from the Finder. Additionally, there's no way to
  see an overview of a project. A palette lists project screens, and
  you can use drag & drop to reorder the screens, but I'd like to
  see a thumbnail view of the project, complete with the ability to
  drag & drop objects onto screens in the thumbnail view.

  Those complaints aside, the Chisel strikes me as a top-notch
  program. Teachers I spoke with backed up that impression, with
  comments like "student friendly," and "it takes you as far as your
  imagination will take you." The interface is easy to learn and
  appealing to look at, and I highly recommend it to anyone under
  the age of 16 who wants to have a blast making presentations. The
  arrangement of the menus, the palettes, the commands, the entire
  way that the program fits together has an easy, elegant feeling
  found rarely in software, and makes me like the program far more
  than I would if the interface were compromised to add more
  features.

  I had an excellent experience with Pierian Spring technical
  support - the support person not only gave lots of suggestions for
  solving my problem, he also helped me avoid future problems. All
  the teachers I spoke with praised the support staff without being
  asked.

  To run Digital Chisel, Pierian Springs says that ideally you'd
  have a 68040- or PowerPC-based Macintosh, with 5 MB available
  application RAM and a monitor that can display 256 colors.
  Minimally, the company recommends a 25 MHz 68030-based Mac, 3 MB
  available RAM, any version of System 7, and at least a 12-inch,
  256-color monitor. You also need at least 5 MB free hard disk
  space. Pierian Springs is working on Digital Chisel 3.0 (it's
  about to go into beta), and a Windows version is also in the
  works.

  Digital Chisel costs $109 for a single user, school packs cost
  $149, and there are also various site license deals. Additionally,
  through 30-Apr-97, Strata and Pierian Spring are offering a joint
  bundle that includes Vision 3D 4.0, Media Paint 1.2, two copies of
  VideoShop 3.0, Digital Chisel 2.1.3, a Vision 3D tutorial, and a
  t-shirt. This bundle costs $379; $239 educational.

<http://www.netschool.com/oasis/news/hotdeal.html>

    Pierian Springs Software -- 800/472-8578 -- 503/222-2044
      503-222-0771 (fax) -- <info@pierian.com>


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TidBITS#371/24-Mar-97
=====================

  Apple's PowerBooks not only redefined the laptop computer
  industry, but also embodied a nebulous combination of style,
  innovation, and prestige - elements Apple has been trying regain.
  In this issue, we take real-world looks at the newest contenders:
  the PowerBook 1400 and 3400, the latter currently holding the
  title as fastest laptop in the world. Also, Adam raises some
  interesting questions about Apple's decision to drop Open
  Transport in Rhapsody.

Topics:
    MailBITS/24-Mar-97
    Rhapsody and Networks: Some Questions
    PowerBook 1400/133: Poise and Punch
    PowerBook 3400: The Ultimate Laptop?

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-371.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#371_24-Mar-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

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MailBITS/24-Mar-97
------------------

**CDA Goes to Washington** -- The U.S. Supreme Court has begun
  hearings on the Communications Decency Act. I won't pretend to
  analyze the results of the initial oral arguments, but I found
  reading the complete transcript to be fascinating. If you're
  interested in how the Supreme Court justices queried the attorneys
  for both sides, check it out at the URL below. If you haven't
  followed the issue over the last two years, the Communications
  Decency Act (passed as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996)
  attempts to limit "patently offensive" material on the Internet as
  defined by local community standards (see TidBITS-315_). [ACE]

<http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/trial/sctran.html>


**About Those R&D Numbers** -- Several readers wrote into comment
  about the numbers Apple was bandying around in relation to the
  research and development budgets. The Apple executives said that
  other PC vendors devote only 1 to 2 percent of sales to R&D. That
  may be true, but it doesn't take into account the fact that other
  vendors pay licensing fees to Microsoft, in part to account for
  Microsoft's R&D on Windows 95. In addition, I said that Apple was
  aiming to cut the ATG (Advanced Technology Group) budget to 5
  percent of sales; I should have said that Apple plans to cut the
  total R&D budget to 5 percent of sales, since ATG is only a part
  of Apple's overall research efforts. [ACE]


**Macromedia Fixes Shockwave Director** -- On 19-Mar-97,
  Macromedia issued a fix for the security holes in Shockwave
  Director we reported on last week (see TidBITS-370_). No other
  details were available, but note that you must download the
  complete Shockwave Essentials package to get the fixed version of
  Shockwave Director. The download is 1.1 MB. [ACE]

<http://www.webcomics.com/shockwave/>
<http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/>


Rhapsody and Networks: Some Questions
-------------------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  As many of you know from reading my article in TidBITS-370_, Apple
  has announced that Open Transport will enter "maintenance mode"
  and eventually be replaced in Rhapsody by Unix BSD (Berkeley
  Standard Distribution) networking code. Open Transport will
  continue to exist within the "Blue Box," which is the
  compatibility layer for current Mac OS applications running within
  Rhapsody.

  Response to this announcement from the Internet development
  community has ranged from confusion to frustration and back to
  confusion again.

  For instance, Amanda Walker, who developed parts of TCP/Connect
  and InterPPP II for InterCon Systems (now owned by Ascend
  Communications) said, "I think that not porting Open Transport
  (which is essentially Mentat Portable Streams - one of the fastest
  and most flexible Unix networking stacks) to OpenStep (which uses
  a good, but slower and less flexible 4.3 BSD-based networking
  stack) is stupid and shortsighted. I will be amused if the classic
  Mac OS ends up being a better server platform than Rhapsody."

<http://www.mentat.com/>


**Some Questions** -- Other developers voiced similar concerns,
  but the common theme among them were the numerous questions that
  came up. Replacing Open Transport with BSD networking (I'll refer
  to it merely as BSD from now on) is not a trivial decision, and it
  affects the Mac both at a low level and at a user administration
  level. Avoiding the truly technical issues, here are a few
  questions about the future of networking on the Mac whose answers
  will affect many of us. These questions may not have answers yet;
  any Mac user who relies heavily on Open Transport should be
  concerned about the fact that Apple didn't have answers ready when
  they made the announcement.

  Do note that I'm not interested in hearing speculation about the
  answers - the only people who can answer these questions are the
  Apple engineers working on the Rhapsody networking transition.

* Open Transport deals well with multiple TCP/IP configurations,
  making it easy for Macintosh users to switch between multiple ISPs
  and even multiple methods of connecting to the Internet (modem,
  network, etc.) without rebooting. BSD was designed for Unix
  workstations that never move and don't have to change their
  networking configurations multiple times per day. How will BSD
  deal with, as a friend noted, "the diversity of messed-up network
  configurations" that Open Transport handles with ease?

* Open Transport may not have a perfectly simple interface, but
  it's pretty easy. Will BSD networking be as easy for a novice user
  to set up and reconfigure if necessary? Will Rhapsody have to ship
  with your own personal Unix guru?

* Numerous Macintosh developers have invested a great deal of
  time, energy, and code in developing for Open Transport. Does it
  make sense to "trade" those developers, all of whom are interested
  in developing for the Macintosh, for a new set of Unix and Windows
  developers (BSD comes from Unix, and WinSock in Windows is based
  on BSD), few of whom have any interest in developing for the Mac?
  As Amanda Walker says, "If I'd wanted to develop for a niche Unix
  machine, I'd have been a NeXT developer."

* Open Transport supports (of course) AppleTalk. BSD has no built-
  in support for AppleTalk. How will Apple add support for AppleTalk
  to BSD? Wouldn't it be ironic if Apple had to buy an AppleTalk
  stack for Rhapsody from an outside source?

* What happens with plug & play networking under BSD? Will you
  still be able to plug in an Ethernet card and have it work without
  fuss? For instance, on a PC, if you so much as move an Ethernet
  card from one PCI slot to another, you have to reinstall the
  drivers, something that would be laughable on a Macintosh. Also,
  what about LocalTalk support? Vast numbers of Macs rely on simple
  LocalTalk networks for sharing files and printing.

* IPv6, which encompasses the next generation Internet addressing
  scheme (since the Internet is running low on IP numbers), has been
  demonstrated under Open Transport. IPv6 is a big deal for higher
  education institutions working on Internet II, the very-high-speed
  Internet connection between these institutions. What's the story
  with IPv6 under BSD?

<http://playground.sun.com/pub/ipng/html/ipng-PS.txt>
<http://www.mentat.com/ipv6.html>

* How will Open Transport in the Blue Box and BSD in the Yellow
  Box (which is the layer where native Rhapsody applications run)
  share networking resources such as modems or Ethernet cards? For
  instance, if you make a PPP connection using FreePPP in the Blue
  Box, can you use an Internet application that only runs in the
  Yellow Box over the same connection?

* In Apple's testing on a 10 Mbps Ethernet network, Open Transport
  could sustain throughput of 9.6 Mbps. In contrast BSD could only
  sustain 7 Mbps (and the venerable MacTCP could only do 2.3 Mbps).
  That may not sound like a huge difference, but what about a 100
  Mbps Ethernet network? Open Transport has been shown to sustain 40
  Mbps on those networks - how well will BSD do? Wouldn't it be
  ironic if existing applications running on Open Transport in the
  Blue Box significantly outperform future applications running on
  BSD in the Yellow Box? (This isn't an Internet issue since
  throughputs on the Internet are so slow in comparison with
  Ethernet networks that even users with T1 Internet connections
  would be unlikely to notice the difference.)

* Open Transport supports filters such as SurfWatch, one of the
  programs that prevents users from seeing "objectionable" sites.
  Without getting into the issue of defining "objectionable," what
  does BSD offer in terms of filters?


PowerBook 1400/133: Poise and Punch
-----------------------------------
  by Mark H. Anbinder <mha@tidbits.com>

  When Apple introduced its first family of laptop computers, the
  PowerBook 100, 140, and 170, the machines were hailed as capable
  and feature-rich, and were attractive and usable to boot. With
  additions to the 100-series PowerBook family, and then the advent
  of the Duo and 500-series PowerBooks, Apple managed to maintain
  its reputation. But in recent years the offerings have been
  limited, and it wasn't until the release of the PowerBook 1400
  that Apple had another winner on its hands.

<http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/datasheets/pt/pb1400.html>


**Overview** -- As the second generation of PowerPC-based Apple
  laptops, the PowerBook 1400 family sports a stunningly large
  display, clean design, and the first built-in CD-ROM drive in a
  PowerBook. When it was introduced last year, the 603e-based 1400,
  running at 117 MHz, was considered a shade slow compared to other
  current Macintosh desktop computers and PC laptops. Apple's
  February release of a 133 MHz model provides a perfect bridge for
  those who would like a solid performer but don't need (or can't
  afford) the wicked-fast PowerBook 3400 (see Marc Bizer's review of
  the PowerBook 3400 next in this issue).


**Look & Feel** -- Though Apple's first PowerBooks weren't that
  visually exciting, they lived in an era when computers weren't
  trying to be works of art. The 500-series machines were sleek,
  making it clear that aesthetic design had been considered in their
  production, so the PowerBook 5300 family was especially
  disappointing in its tendency toward visual doldrums. I was
  delighted to see a visually appealing laptop the first time I
  encountered a 1400 in a local dealer showroom, and in the month
  that I've owned one, I've continued to be happy with its looks.

  Accessible layout is at least as important as aesthetics, and
  Apple has succeeded again in producing a machine that's easy to
  approach. The display offers easy-to-reach brightness and contrast
  controls (they're on the right side, but are as reachable with the
  left hand as with the right), and though the catches that open the
  PowerBook and release the battery and CD-ROM or floppy drive
  seemed "backwards" at first (requiring a press in the opposite
  direction from my old PowerBook 100), I adapted quickly. The
  battery and drives can be removed with the same hand that releases
  the catch, important if you're holding the PowerBook with the
  other hand or, for whatever reason, have only one hand available.

  Apple's new PowerBook keyboard is a wonderful improvement over
  past models. The twelve function keys (F1 through F12) are small
  but usable, and so far I've found nothing that insists upon the
  higher-numbered keys being available. (I've remapped Microsoft
  Word's word count feature, which uses F15, to F12. Yes, I can live
  without a double-underline keystroke.) Unlike some laptop
  keyboards, this one doesn't slow down my fairly fast typing pace,
  and so far I've accidentally hit the wrong key on only a few
  occasions; certainly no more than on my desktop keyboard. My only
  wish is that there were a right-hand Command key, so I could, with
  a single hand, hit the Command-Shift-9 SignatureQuote FKEY I've
  used for years. I suspect I can either get used to doing it two-
  handed or select another FKEY number for use with Rick Holzgrafe's
  invaluable shareware tool. (I now do virtually all my email from
  the PowerBook, and I'm _not_ giving up SignatureQuote.)

<http://www.opendoor.com/Rick/SQ.html>

  The trackpad has a clickable button, but I find myself hardly ever
  using it, relying instead on the trackpad's tap, double-tap, and
  drag capabilities Apple has added to the trackpad since earlier
  incarnations. These features are adjustable, so you can turn them
  off if you prefer to click using a physical button, or if you
  prefer to be able to tap but not drag on the trackpad.


**Accessibility** -- The twin bays in the front of the PowerBook
  1400, below its now-familiar wrist rest, hold the battery on one
  side and the swappable CD-ROM and floppy drives on the other side.
  I expected to have to complain that the floppy drive and CD-ROM
  drive couldn't be swapped at any time without a restart - but it's
  not so! These two drives are "hot-swappable," so they can be
  inserted or exchanged at any time whether the computer is on, off,
  or asleep. (If a CD or floppy happens to be mounted when you
  remove the drive it's in, the computer will ask you to put the
  drive back and dismount the item before trying again.)

  I wouldn't be surprised to see other modules for the PowerBook
  1400 in the near future, such as a DAT drive, or a DVD drive, or
  just about any other storage device. A much-delayed Zip drive is
  scheduled for release by VST Technologies in "second quarter
  1997."

<http://www.vsttech.com/>

  Meanwhile, the twin Type II PC Card slots (formerly called PCMCIA
  slots) on the left side of the computer serve my
  telecommunications needs, working fine with Global Village's
  PowerPort Platinum Pro or with Dayna's CommuniCard Plus, each of
  which offers both 33.6 Kbps modem and 10Base-T Ethernet
  capability. These slots can be used for hard disk storage, too,
  and the modem or Ethernet tasks can be relegated to the computer's
  internal expansion slot.

  The expansion slot, located in the back of the computer under the
  speaker grille, is unbelievably easy to access and use. I needed
  to read the instructions that came with my video card before I
  could determine that sliding the speaker grille to the left would
  release it, but the rest of the installation process was self-
  explanatory. A small Phillips-head screwdriver is needed, which
  renders my specialized T-8 and T-10 screwdriver tips obsolete.
  (They were necessary to get into earlier PowerBook models, and a
  modicum of luck was needed to get out of them.)

  I was surprised that video output and Ethernet are both optional,
  but I can understand Apple's desire to avoid crowding the
  PowerBook with features that not every user will use. If both
  could be added internally without the use of a PC Card, I'd do it,
  but I'll settle for having internal video and PC Card Ethernet.

  My only accessibility complaint is that the PowerBook 1400 takes a
  tad too long to wake up to suit my tastes, between 20 seconds and
  a minute, averaging around 30 seconds. This is much faster than
  starting up from scratch but ought to be nearly instantaneous. A
  modern computer often needs to do much more upon waking up than
  the earliest PowerBooks, but it ought to be able to perform those
  tasks more quickly, or perhaps simultaneously rather than
  sequentially.


**Battery** -- Apple's 500-series PowerBooks cleverly allowed the
  use of two batteries at once; one battery could be replaced by an
  optional PC Card cage. Although you can store a spare battery in
  the bay designed for the CD-ROM and floppy drives, that battery
  can't be active, surprisingly enough. Two batteries in tandem last
  longer than two batteries used one after the other, so it would be
  useful for Apple to build battery contacts into this bay. The
  single nickel metal hydride battery is rated for two to four
  hours, but seems to last up to an hour and a half in standard use,
  with occasional CD or floppy access, and the color display's
  backlighting at a comfortable level. Of course, conserving power
  through actions such as turning down the display brightness will
  make the battery last longer, perhaps even over two hours.


**Sound & Display** -- Shorter battery life may not be such a bad
  trade-off, considering the bright, attractive, 11.3-inch, active-
  matrix color display on the 1400c. Its 800 by 600 display (the
  resolution can't be changed) is slightly smaller than the same
  display on a 16-inch color monitor, but not enough smaller to make
  it at all uncomfortable, and the image is sharp across the entire
  display without any visible split lines.

  The optional video output card, which comes with the same adapter
  cable required for Apple's earlier video-capable PowerBooks,
  supports a variety of monitors and up to thousands of colors
  (16-bit color).

  Sound is not a key feature of the PowerBook 1400, though its
  capabilities are adequate. The machine includes a mono microphone,
  built into the display, and a small mono speaker which doesn't do
  justice to audio CDs. However, the audio jack on the back of the
  computer supports stereo headphones, battery-powered external
  speakers, or speaker-equipped monitors.


**The Verdict** -- Apple's PowerBook 1400 isn't a raw powerhouse
  like its big brother the 3400, but neither does it carry the
  3400's price tag. With a range of speeds from 117 to 133 MHz, a
  range of storage, video, and expansion options, and good standard
  features, the PowerBook 1400 is a good choice for those who need a
  Mac laptop for a reasonable price (roughly $2,500 to $4,000,
  depending on configuration). For more information about the 1400,
  see Geoff Duncan's overview article in TidBITS-350_.


**DealBITS** -- With the purchase of a PowerBook 1400 or 3400,
  Cyberian Outpost is offering TidBITS readers free copies of
  Aladdin's Spring Cleaning 1.0 and FWB Software's HSM Toolkit 1.0.

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/power-books.html>


PowerBook 3400: The Ultimate Laptop?
------------------------------------
  by Marc Bizer <mlbizer@mail.utexas.edu>

  I was overjoyed to have been selected as a seed site to test a new
  PowerBook, the much-anticipated machine code-named Hooper, which
  Apple shipped on 17-Feb-97 as the PowerBook 3400. I had no idea
  how Hooper had been named - did it mean the laptop would jump
  through hoops which no other portable computers had jumped before?
  All I knew for sure was that I was eager to try Apple's fastest
  portable ever.

<http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/datasheets/pt/pb3400.html>


**General Impressions** -- Taking the unit out of the box and
  opening its lid, I was amazed at how large its 12.1-inch screen
  seemed in comparison to the 9.5-inch display on my PowerBook 540c.
  My initial physical impressions were positive: its active-matrix
  screen is bright and sharp, displaying 16-bit color at a
  resolution of 800 by 600, and its keyboard feels just right.
  Although the 3400 resembles a large 5300, the unit feels much
  sturdier; it is a pleasure to touch and behold. The placement of
  the microphone and sound-out jacks on the left side of the
  computer is convenient; I can't say as much about the ADB port at
  the back on the left side, since it could be inconvenient for
  right-handed users who attach devices like mice or numeric
  keypads. I found the 3400 to be a speedy performer, approximately
  in the range of a Power Macintosh 8500/150 except for video.
  Software installs speedily from the built-in 6x CD-ROM. Reviewers
  complain that the PowerBook 3400 weighs over seven pounds, but it
  felt lighter in my carrying case than my PowerBook 540c, perhaps
  because its power adapter is lighter than the 540c's.

  One disappointment was the wakeup time. Since the 170, I've found
  PowerBooks to have an annoyingly long wakeup time, and the 3400 is
  no exception. Ideally, wakeup should be almost instantaneous. I
  know that Apple's engineers are making efforts in this area.


**Configurations** -- The PowerBook 3400 comes in four
  configurations, three of which are shipping. First of all, there
  are two units with a PowerPC 603e processor running at 180 MHz.
  One is a $4,500 stripped-down version which comes with neither the
  ingenious PCI-based Ethernet/modem card nor the 6x CD-ROM drive
  which fits in the 3400's expansion bay. Both feature a 1.3 GB IDE
  hard disk. The second 180 MHz configuration costs approximately
  $5,000 and includes the CD-ROM and the Ethernet/modem card.

  For approximately $5,500, Apple offers a 3400 with a 200 MHz 603e,
  the same 6x CD-ROM and Ethernet/modem card, and a 2 GB hard disk
  (which is somewhat faster than the 1.3 GB hard disk in the 180 MHz
  configurations. Finally, in April, Apple plans to ship an ultimate
  high-end notebook, a 240 MHz 3400 with a 12x CD-ROM drive and a 3
  GB hard disk for approximately $6,500. In other words, these
  machines are not cheap.

  All configurations come with 16 MB of RAM soldered to the
  motherboard, which leaves the one non-stackable memory slot free.
  A memory card holding up to 128 MB can be installed, which brings
  the maximum capacity of the 3400 to 144 MB of RAM, more than
  double the capacity of the PowerBook 1400.

  Given that the built-in Ethernet/modem PCI card (absent in the
  low-end 180 MHz model), takes up the single PCI slot, those who
  wish to install third-party PCI boards will have to remove the
  modem. One wonders how many third-party boards will be developed
  for the 3400's miniature PCI slot; even though it uses PCI, it's a
  non-standard size.


**Hardware Characteristics** -- The PowerBook 3400 uses the basic
  architecture of the 7500/8500/9500 desktop PCI Power Macs: it has
  a 64-bit data bus between processor and memory (and a 40 MHz bus
  speed); 256K of high-speed L2 cache; DMA (Direct Memory Access)
  for I/O; its single serial port is a GeoPort; and a first in
  PowerBooks, it uses high-speed EDO (Extended Data Output) RAM more
  common to the Intel platform. A Chips & Technologies video chip,
  typical on high-end PC notebooks, offers limited QuickDraw
  acceleration (rectangle copy and fill). The lower PC card slot
  accepts "zoom" video cards, giving them direct access to the
  3400's video hardware and thus permitting full-motion full-screen
  video.

  The sound quality from the four built-in speakers is mediocre:
  when playing music, it sounds tinny, with no bass whatsoever. It
  is fine for multimedia presentations, however, and headphones
  completely alleviate this shortcoming.


**Design** -- Though its internal architecture is much more
  advanced than that of the relatively old 5300/1400 architecture,
  the physical design of the 3400 lags behind that of the 1400 in
  some significant ways: for example, in the 1400, Apple has done
  away with Torx screws and gives complete and easy accessibility to
  memory, expansion cards, and the hard disk.


**Usage** -- I used the PowerBook 3400 at least seven hours per
  day for two months with no problems whatsoever and few crashes.
  This is a testament to the robustness of the hardware and the
  stability of System 7.6. Battery life (using lithium-ion
  batteries) is adequate but not stellar at about two hours even
  under relatively severe conditions (i.e. no RAM disk, PowerBook
  control panel set to "maximum conservation" with backlight dimming
  set to turn off completely, Ethernet connection, but no CD usage).
  The Ethernet/33.6 kbps modem card automatically switches between
  the modem and Ethernet functions depending upon whether a standard
  telephone or Ethernet cable is plugged into it; the 3400 ships
  with a dongle allowing both modem and Ethernet connections at the
  same time. I learned from Cary Lu's Macworld review of the 3400
  that this is Apple's first PowerBook to include a fan (not
  mentioned in Apple's technical documentation). This surprised me;
  although the palm rest area to the left of the trackpad could get
  fairly warm, which I actually appreciated in chilly Parisian
  libraries (did Apple borrow this idea from Saab cars?), I'm fairly
  certain that the fan never came on during two months of operation.

<http://www.macworld.com/pages/april.97/Feature.3382.html>
<ftp://ftp.apple.com/devworld/Technical_Documentation/Developer_Notes/
Macintosh_CPUs_-_PPC_Portable/Macintosh_PowerBook_3400.sit.hqx>


**More Features** -- The 3400's modem, based on the Rockwell 288
  chip, offers good reliability (twice I inadvertently picked up the
  phone handset while I was connected to the Internet, without
  dropping the line) and good performance. The modem does not have
  flash ROM, so it will not be upgradable to upcoming 56K
  technologies. It can be used either with AppleFax or FaxSTF
  software (bundled).

  I understand that the 3400 is the first PowerBook with active
  termination on the external SCSI bus, and this relieves it of some
  of the "sensitivity" which some users may have experienced while
  using previous PowerBooks with improperly terminated SCSI devices.
  I had no trouble connecting an Iomega Jaz and an external Apple CD
  600e CD-ROM drive to the 3400.

  The 3400 does video mirroring, a feature where the PowerBook
  display also shows on an external monitor or, more likely, on a
  big screen via an overhead projector. The 3400 can drive an
  external monitor at 1024 by 768 pixels, however, it can only do so
  with 256 colors, which may be unacceptably low for people who need
  such a high-end laptop. The 3400 needs more VRAM, at least 2 MB,
  which is becoming standard on high-end PC laptops. Unfortunately,
  the 3400 cannot drive two monitors in non-mirror mode - a feature
  many PowerBook 3400 owners will surely miss.


**The Right Idea** -- Although it lacks a few features, most
  notably in the video support, the 3400 is the consummate PowerBook
  with an emphasis on the word "power." It is by far the most
  comfortable and usable laptop I have tried. The bad news is that
  I'll have to sell my car to buy one.


**DealBITS** -- With the purchase of a PowerBook 1400 or 3400,
  Cyberian Outpost is offering TidBITS readers free copies of
  Aladdin's Spring Cleaning 1.0 and FWB Software's HSM Toolkit 1.0.

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/power-books.html>


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TidBITS#373/01-Apr-97
=====================

  EXCLUSIVE! Hot on the heels of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's public
  speculation of a hostile takeover of Apple, Steve Jobs announces
  the merger of Apple and Pixar, Jobs's successful animation
  company. In this special issue, we also unveil a host of
  behind-the-six-colored-curtain information, including sale
  of the Newton and PowerBook divisions, new technologies for
  Rhapsody, a TidBITS global reorganization, rumors of Cyberdog
  abuses, and more.

Topics:
    MailBITS/01-Apr-97
    Apple Goes Hollywood
    Waxing Rhapsodic: New Technologies from Apple
    The TidBITS Channel
    Internet Merchandising Takes Off
    The PowerBook Secret
    TidBITS Web Surfing Party Game

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-373.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#373_01-Apr-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* The Intergalactic Kelvinball Federation -- <kelvinball@tibdits.com>
   "If you're confused, you're just starting to get the hang of it."
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   ---------------------------------------------------------------

MailBITS/01-Apr-97
------------------

**New PowerBooks** -- Just after the release of the PowerBook
  3400, dubbed "the world's fastest portable" by Apple, comes the
  PowerBook 1000, codenamed Falcon. Announced on 01-Apr-97 and
  bearing the affectionate slogan "the fastest hunk of junk in the
  galaxy," the PowerBook 1000 is based on the diminutive PowerBook
  100 design and features a 320 MHz low-power PowerPC 620 CPU, 80 MB
  of RAM, a 2 GB hard disk, a hot-swappable removable storage bay
  that supports a CD-ROM drive, Zip drive, or floppy drive, and ten
  hours of battery life on trilithium resin battery technology.
  Unique to the PowerBook 1000 is generalized wireless communication
  technology that enables the machine to act as a pager or cellular
  telephone, or to connect to the Internet via a wireless modem at
  speeds up to 53 Kbps. Prices are expected to start at $1,500.
  [ECA]

<http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/datasheets/pt/pb1000.html>


**Double the Trouble** -- Connectix recently announced the latest
  in its Doubler suite, a new browser plug-in called JAVADoubler
  (formerly known by its code name, DoubleShot). Slated for release
  on 01-Apr-97, the plug-in downloads all Java applets twice. Using
  special parallel download technology described by engineers as
  "caffeinated to the max," the double download takes no longer than
  a normal, single download. Why download two copies? Well,
  JAVADoubler doesn't stop percolating its magic once the copies are
  downloaded. Using memory buffering technology borrowed from RAM
  Doubler, JAVADoubler monitors the first download's activities, and
  when the applet crashes or hits an offending instruction,
  JAVADoubler moves operations over to the second downloaded copy.
  While that copy continues to run, JAVADoubler quickly downloads
  another copy. We applaud Connectix for its continuing efforts to
  help users catch up to the ever-rushing train of technological
  change. [EJT]

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.connectix.com/>


**Cyberdog Abused?** Rumors are circulating on the net that the
  real reason for the demise of Apple's OpenDoc technology was due
  to allegations made by an organization calling itself the Animal
  Internet Rights Foundation (AIRF) about Apple's mishandling of
  Cyberdog. A spokesperson was quoted as saying, "We received
  reports that Cyberdog was repeatedly hacked, delayed, and not
  given proper resources." AIRF investigators are also reportedly
  looking into the conduct of programmers Peter Lewis (in regard to
  his domestication of the Anarchie kangaroo), and Jim Matthews (for
  not paying enough attention to the Fetch dog). The University of
  Minnesota could not be reached for comment regarding its treatment
  of the gopher in the almost-defunct TurboGopher. Some have
  suggested that the decline of the Gopher technology was related to
  cutbacks in the University of Minnesota's gopher food budget.
  [ECA]


**Mac Attack** -- In a swift and decisive move, Symantec
  Corporation announced that it would purchase game developer Id
  Software for an undisclosed sum. Id, creator of popular "blast-
  and-run" games such as Doom and Quake, immediately issued a press
  release disclosing that negotiations had been "relatively
  bloodless (ha ha)." Symantec's first offering from its new
  Chainsaw/Cutting Edge department will be a revised version of
  Norton Utilities for Macintosh entitled NUM-Cruncher, in which
  users will be able to run through virtual 3D "corridors" of their
  hard disks in real-time, blasting bad sectors and setting fire to
  corrupted B-tree branches. [CLJ]

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.symantec.com/>
<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.idsoftware.com/>


**TidBITS Announces Reorganization** -- Following in the footsteps
  of such industry leaders as Apple Computer, TidBITS today
  announced plans to lay off thousands of employees. "It's a bit
  like selling a stock short," explained TidBITS publisher Adam
  Engst. "First we lay off the employees, take advantage of a
  massive tax write-off, and then we can use the money to hire
  them." TidBITS also announced a shareholders meeting to be held
  this time next year; bring a dessert to share. [ECA]


**Smoking Newtons, Batman!** After a flurry of industry
  speculation about the fate of its underappreciated handheld
  technology, Apple has sold its Newton line to the highest bidder,
  the RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. (RN), parent company of the
  independently traded Nabisco, Inc. (NA) and creator of cigarette
  lines Camel, Winston, and Salem. As a result of the sale,
  Nabisco's well-known Fig Newton line will gain a new member - the
  Cig Newton.

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.nabisco.com/Townhall/
FunFacts/NEWTONS.html>
<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.triadonline.com/rjrt/>

  Cig Newtons will feature a special compartment for storing
  cigarettes. An RJR representative commented that "too many
  potential smokers use PDAs but don't want the inconvenience of
  carrying around a PDA and a cigarette pack. By giving customers
  cigarettes and a PDA in one handy package, we think we can
  convince adults to try smoking and turn a huge profit." The
  representative had no comment when asked if the new Newtons would
  ship with a program that automatically recorded cigarette usage
  and charted the increasing risk of health problems. Additionally,
  no comment was offered when asked if the company would offer a
  similar Cig Newton aimed at children, based on the eMate design
  and sporting a Joe Camel face. Rumor has it that RJR is currently
  negotiating a technology alliance that would enable it to add a
  "flick-top" Bic lighter technology to future models. [EJT]


**Kinko's, The New Way to Verb** -- If you don't possession at
  home the software or hardware you requirement to completion a job,
  automobile down to your nearest Kinko's, where you'll discovery a
  row of Macs cargoed with a good selection of fonts and software,
  plus some great printers. Everything is all arrangemented so that
  at the end a time slip is printered enumerationing your charges.
  I've employmented this service on a number of occasions and I
  consideration it fun and easy; if you entrance at an odd time
  (such the middle of the night) you can just chair down and
  commencement working without competitioning for a computer. [NAM]

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.kinkos.com/>


Apple Goes Hollywood
--------------------
  by Grubuen Ttam <matt@tidbits.com>

  In a move that surprised all but the cagiest industry analysts, it
  was announced this week that Apple Computer, Inc., had been
  acquired by Pixar Animation Studios. Apple promptly laid off its
  entire development staff, plus David Krathwohl and the whole
  Developer Relations department, hiring in their place on permanent
  retainer a number of film stars including Jim Carrey, Jeff
  Goldblum, Roy Scheider, and others who have been seen using Apple
  computers in movies over the years. According to former CEO (now
  Vice President of Rhetorical Affairs) Gil Amelio, Apple will
  henceforth confine its activities to star-studded, high-tech
  animated multimedia presentations at conventions and stockholder
  meetings.

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.pixar.com/>

  "This was the real reason we bought NeXT [Software, Inc.], but we
  couldn't announce it until the details were finalized," Amelio
  said. "We needed to leverage the animation expertise of Pixar, and
  this was the only way Steve [Steven P. Jobs, CEO of both NeXT and
  Pixar] was going to let us at it. We save NeXT, he saves Apple: it
  was a simple quid pro quo."

  "It was a completely logical move, which I'd been contemplating
  ever since I joined the board of directors [in 1994]," Amelio went
  on. "I looked at Apple's work over the last five years or so and
  saw immediately that Apple was really in the business of giving
  demos about technology that they never had and never intended to
  release. People were shelling out big bucks to watch this stuff at
  Macworld Expo and the World Wide Developers Conference. For a
  while early on it had looked like folks might catch on to the fact
  that all the so-called demos were just animations, but we started
  interspersing occasional screen shots of MacsBug and the critics
  went wild."

  "Meanwhile, the actual development effort had become a complete
  financial sinkhole," Amelio continued. "I realized quickly that we
  could save a lot of time and expenditure by cutting development
  out altogether. Computers and entertainment have been linked from
  the start; Apple has been marketing computer-based fiction for
  years and now we're going into it full time."

  Ellen Hancock, executive vice president of research and
  development, will remain with Apple to help plan the scenarios of
  future animations, in which Apple, in an ongoing soap opera, will
  portray a Silicon Valley corporation desperately coming up with
  ever-whackier technologies in an effort to stay afloat. Hancock
  will be assisted by Walter S. Mossberg, formerly of the Wall
  Street Journal, who will serve as chief editor and head writer.

  Apple's move was enthusiastically received by the press, who, in a
  frenzy of interviewing one another as usual after the press
  conference, looked forward to ripping Apple's new fictional
  company to shreds. Steve Jobs, now CEO of Apple as well as Pixar
  and NeXT, was unavailable for comment.


Waxing Rhapsodic: New Technologies from Apple
---------------------------------------------
  by Nacnud Ffoeg <geoff@tidbits.com>

  In an effort to reassure the Macintosh developer community in the
  wake of recent layoffs and restructuring, Apple Computer has been
  privately demonstrating a host of cutting-edge new technologies
  slated to appear in its forthcoming NeXT-based operating system,
  codenamed Rhapsody. Though none of these new features have been
  finalized, TidBITS was fortunate enough to attend one of Apple's
  sneak previews for programmers and developers, and the
  demonstrations were truly spectacular instances of Apple
  showmanship.


**Also Known As...** System 7 first introduced Macintosh users to
  aliases, tiny files that point back to an original item, like a
  program, document, folder, or disk. Rhapsody will take aliases to
  the next level by integrating them with both the Appearance
  Manager (scheduled to appear in Mac OS 8) and Macintosh Easy Open,
  enabling Rhapsody users to work in a predominantly Windows or Unix
  environment without being detected. "We've heard about sites,
  particularly in corporate America, where Mac users are being
  forced to give up their Macs and switch to another platform," said
  an Apple representative. "Rhapsody's new Alias Manager lets these
  Apple customers continue to use their Macintoshes in those
  environments under an assumed identity." The new Alias Manager,
  codenamed AKA, can give a Macintosh the appearance of a Windows
  95, Windows NT, or Sun OS operating system, complete with
  functional interface elements, all tied to customized hot keys
  that let Macintosh users switch between interfaces when their
  supervisors have left the room. Although the new Alias Manager
  cannot fully emulate other operating systems, it's smart enough to
  know when its out of its league, and simulates a disk problem,
  network error, program crash, or other commonplace event for the
  simulated operating system if it gets too close to its limits. "At
  no point does it give away that you're using a Mac." When asked
  how many users are expected to rely on the new Alias Manager, an
  Apple spokesperson declined to give specific figures, but
  predicted large numbers, especially after a planned alliance with
  the Federal Witness Protection Program, noting Apple was already
  planning an advertising campaign for the year 2000, entitled
  "We're everywhere."


**How Does That Make You Feel?** Recognizing that modern operating
  systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to
  deal with, Apple also demonstrated an early version of the Empathy
  Manager, codenamed Troi, which lets the Macintosh running Rhapsody
  use a PlainTalk microphone and a video camera (like a Connectix
  QuickCam) to sense and respond to a user's moods and emotions. If
  the user is in a good mood, the Empathy Manager will change the
  screen's appearance to happy colors, change the system beep to
  joyous tones, and even make the Internet work faster. If you're in
  a bad mood, the Empathy Manager will try to be supportive,
  offering to open windows, edit email, let the user win a few games
  of solitaire, or even suggest a well-deserved nap. Like many of
  Rhapsody's technologies, the Empathy Manager is Internet-ready;
  using a protocol called ThinkTalk, Macs with the Telepathy Manager
  can pool mood information about their users, enabling them to more
  effectively formulate work strategies, delay email that might
  upset their user, or even request prescription medication via a
  secure Web server.


**Internet for the Rest Of Us** -- Although Apple recently
  discontinued its Performa brand of computers, Rhapsody is
  scheduled to include technologies specifically intended for low-
  end, non-technical Macintosh users. First among these is
  GeekWatch, an Internet utility designed to filter out confusing
  and overly technical information on the Internet. "The Web offers
  a vast amount of information, but a lot of that information isn't
  relevant to many non-technical professions, like hairdressers,
  rock musicians, and marketing executives," said an Apple
  representative. GeekWatch monitors information as it comes into
  your computer from the Internet and compares it to a user profile
  built up gradually from the contents of Internet sites visited by
  a particular user. If the content of a site is deemed too
  technical, that data is blocked by GeekWatch. As an example,
  someone who was mainly interested in gardening information who
  accidently loaded a Web page on Java programming, a GeekWatch
  dialog appears with a smiley-face icon and the phrase "This site
  blocked by GeekWatch!" (Version 1.1 will include translations for
  technical terms; in the previous example, an Apple Guide window
  would appear beneath the smiley-face icon, explaining that Java is
  "essentially another term for coffee, which programmers need to
  survive." At this point, the Empathy Manager could kick in and
  suggest that the user go brew a cup.) The Apple representative
  commented, "We think this will make the Internet less intimidating
  for real people, and have a beneficial side effect of letting real
  geeks talk to each other without confusing anyone."


**The Blame Game** -- Finally, the most fundamental - and perhaps
  most controversial - new functionality scheduled to appear in
  Rhapsody is the Conspiracy Manager, a comprehensive set of low-
  level object classes designed to handle errors and crashes for all
  programs and services. The Conspiracy Manager allows programmers
  to have extensive control over the appearance, timing, and impacts
  of their errors. With the preemptive multitasking capabilities
  provided by Rhapsody's Mach kernel, errors and crashes can appear
  to be caused by any program or software component running under
  Rhapsody. Thus, a programmer could release a program that blamed
  all its crashes on the ever-popular whipping boy Microsoft Word,
  Java, the dreaded "extension conflict," or even a particular
  Internet site. Acknowledging that the best way to hide a
  conspiracy is to admit to it up front, Apple representatives
  declined to comment on how the Conspiracy Manager might make
  Macintosh use less intuitive for users, although they did note
  that Apple had to conform to industry standards for software
  problems, and the Conspiracy Manager was vital to the job security
  of technical support workers around the world. Apple
  representatives also refused to comment on whether Apple was
  considering licensing the Conspiracy Manager to other companies.
  "Um...," the Apple rep nodded. "Could be."


The TidBITS Channel
-------------------
  by Tsgne .C Mada <ace@tidbits.com>

  We at TidBITS have long been proponents of the theory that we
  should provide TidBITS in as many ways as possible for our
  readers. Unlike other publications, which limit themselves to the
  Web, we've long supported email, FTP, and Usenet news. That's why,
  when Intermind announced its Intermind Communicator product last
  year, we started publishing TidBITS that way as well, even though
  the Macintosh version of the product hadn't yet shipped.

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.intermind.com/prod_demo/
version_need.html>

  We've also been trying to separate our organization from the
  TidBITS newsletter slightly - you might have noticed our copyright
  notice for "TidBITS Electronic Publishing." All of these moves
  have come in preparation for our latest announcement, the TidBITS
  Channel!


**Shove Technology** -- The TidBITS Channel will take advantage of
  the very latest in Internet technology - so-called "shove"
  technology, which was designed specifically for information with
  an attitude. We feel that shove technology is the logical
  extension of the initial "pull" technology of the Web, where users
  had to go get everything manually, and the "push" technology used
  by companies such as Intermind, PointCast, Marimba, and BackWeb.

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.intermind.com/>
<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.pointcast.com/>
<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.marimba.com/>
<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.backweb.com/>

  So, thanks to our use of shove technology, when you turn on your
  computer in the morning, an avatar (we're in negotiations with
  Chicago Bulls "bad boy" Dennis Rodman) will appear on screen and
  begin a dialog with you. "Hey bud, move back from the screen - yer
  crowding me," it will say. If you don't do as it asks (or at
  random times even if you do), it will invite you to step outside,
  saying, 'You wanna piece of me? Huh? Whatsa matter, sucker, you
  scared?" Once you've been sufficiently cowed, the avatar will get
  down to business. "Read this, dork!"

  We have high hopes for the future of shove technology - some
  joystick manufacturers have already signed up to provide physical
  feedback devices that will be able to simulate those initial
  shoves before a fight starts for real. Future enhancements to
  these devices will be able to simulate the feeling of being thrown
  against a wall and having a chair broken over your head.

  But enough about the nuts and bolts behind the TidBITS Channel,
  let's look at our new content. We've been watching a lot of
  syndicated television recently, and have "borrowed" a few ideas
  from our favorite shows.


**Martha Stewart Macintosh Makeover** -- Everyone loves and envies
  uber-homemaker Martha Stewart, and we convinced her to broaden her
  horizons past projects that help you filter your compost and teach
  you how to make delicious desserts and centerpieces from the parts
  that haven't yet fully decayed. On this show, Martha will
  demonstrate how to use a soldering iron to stencil those cute
  little geese onto the side of your Macintosh so it matches your
  curtains, how to French-braid your cables to avoid that ugly cable
  nest behind the computer, and other fun projects that anyone can
  do, given a week or two of concentrated effort with Martha
  standing over your shoulder with a whip.


**BitWatch** -- This new show will star ex-Apple employees who
  don't have anything better to do while working off their five-
  month severance packages. Each week will focus on a different,
  recently eliminated Apple technology and the team that had been
  working on it. Of course, everyone on the cast will wear only
  small bits of clothing, and the show will be set on Silicon Beach.


**Tonya: CodeWarrior Princess** -- TidBITS Senior Editor Tonya
  Engst has always wanted to branch out into fantasy, and she gets
  her chance in this new show. Dressed up in a skimpy leather and
  metal outfit with a very large sword, Tonya roams Silicon Valley
  with her wise-cracking sidekick Ebbe (Even Better Bus Error),
  protecting innocent memory and battling evil big-endian overlords,
  CISC wizards, foul daemons, and other 3D-rendered terrors.
  Preliminary ratings and usability studies indicate a spin-off
  series (Colonel Mach: Justice Server) might get the go-ahead for
  next season.


**TidBITS Swimsuit Channel** -- Not to be left behind in the
  annual fuss over the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, we've
  decided to do our own swimsuit issue, complete with swimsuit
  pictures of some of your editors in exotic locales. Of course,
  being as sensitive as we are to the bandwidth problems on the Web,
  we've come up with a clever way to present these images for your
  viewing pleasure. Check them out on our Web site! (Warning! These
  images have not been rated by the RSAC Ratings Service.)

<http://www.tidbits.com/photos/swimsuit.html>


Internet Merchandising Takes Off
--------------------------------
  by Tsgne .C Mada <ace@tidbits.com>

  We've all watched fads turn into trends and crumble under the
  withering heat of reality. Most of these fadlets (trendlets?)
  suffer because they don't work, or perhaps no one's willing to
  ante up even a small amount of money for the resulting products.
  An argument could be made that Web browsers fall into this
  category.

  However, recent announcements from the leaders in the 1997
  Internet Press Release Championships, Netscape Communications and
  Microsoft Corporation, hold promise for some truly successful new
  products.

  As everyone knows, making money on the Internet is generally a
  losing proposition. Most of the money made so far has been in
  advertising, and if you look closely, you'll realize that the same
  companies are both accepting ads and buying them on other sites.
  In other words, money is staying in the system. Researchers at
  Cornell University's Johnson School of Management believe they've
  uncovered a relationship that implies that all money on the
  Internet will be conserved and recycled, much as water from the
  oceans evaporates, moves around in the atmosphere, returns to
  earth in the form of precipitation, and washes back down to the
  oceans.

  Unwilling to accept this theory, the Internet economics engineers
  at Netscape Communications (well known for engineering Netscape's
  1996 IPO (initial public offering) that showed that money really
  does grow on trees hydroponically raised in the dark sewers of New
  York City under Wall Street) have come up with a new money-making
  idea that's sure to succeed.

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.netscape.com/>

  Netscape's mascot, before the company became too stuffy to have a
  mascot, was the lovable Mozilla, a Godzilla-like creature born in
  the minds of the early Netscape programmers from watching too many
  bad science-fiction movies while writing NCSA Mosaic, Netscape
  Navigator's predecessor. In an effort to capitalize on the
  Netscape name, Netscape plans a line of Mozilla action figures,
  including a plastic Mozilla that can melt AOL floppy disks with
  the addition of common household items such as matches and an
  aerosol can. Another Mozilla will be a large plush stuffed animal
  that can repeat several phrases, including "See you on
  alt.dinosaur.barney.die.die.die!" and "Bill Gates is a weenie."

  In response, industry juggernaut Microsoft announced that it has
  had a line of action figures in the works for some time, the first
  of which will of course be the Bill Gates action figure, available
  for free download on the Internet to anyone who can figure out how
  to download an action figure. A Steve Ballmer action figure that
  froths at the mouth while talking about the Macintosh is planned
  for the fifth quarter of this year.

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.microsoft.com/>

  Microsoft also announced the IAFS, or the Internet Action Figure
  Standard, and said that it would be turning the standard over to
  the IETF to show that it wasn't really interested in controlling
  the world. A spokesman for the IETF sounded confused when asked
  about the IETF's plans for the IAFS. "The what?" he asked.

  The nascent IAFS has already come under fire from Internet
  security experts after a class of third graders at Benedict Arnold
  Elementary School near Burlington, Vermont, uncovered a security
  hole in the Bill Gates Action Figure using a networked pool of
  eMate 300s. Unfortunately, because TidBITS is a family publication
  (and was already cited once under the Communications Decency Act
  in 1996 - see TidBITS-321_), we can't provide additional details
  about the security hole. Microsoft promises a fix but has not yet
  given a date when it will be available.

  Other computer industry companies refused to comment on their
  action figure strategies, although rumor has it that Apple plans
  to release a Steve Jobs action figure (based on the G.I. Joe
  action figure with the karate chop arm) once engineers can figure
  out how to miniaturize a PowerBook sufficiently to please Jobs,
  who reportedly said that any Steve Jobs action figure must include
  a fully functional, no-compromises PowerBook.


The PowerBook Secret
--------------------
  by Tsgne Aynot <tonya@tidbits.com>

  Although much of Apple was acquired by Pixar Animations Studio
  (see the related article earlier in this issue), some hardware
  divisions were sold off. In a move that surprised many industry
  analysts, the PowerBook division was exchanged for a $1 million
  gem-encrusted brassiere (reportedly now worn by Ellen Hancock in
  Apple/Pixar soaps) and will now be under the control of the well-
  known lingerie chain, Victoria's Secret.

  Said Kelly Kahn, VP of Technology Acquisitions, "Modern women
  don't just want to look great, they want to function effectively
  in a chaotic, information-rich world. PowerBooks are the
  management tool of choice, and we look forward to improving the
  line to better meet fashion needs. Take the stylish eMate 300: we
  plan to move the PowerBook line in that direction, with more
  colorful, fun looking cases, slimmer profiles, and vastly improved
  customer support."

  In time for Boston Macworld this year, Victoria's Secret plans to
  ship a series of HotSurfer PowerBooks. These machines will be
  based on the Duo line, but Victoria's Secret has eschewed the use
  of numbers to describe machines. Ms. Kahn commented, "We could
  have named them with numbers, but we felt that HotSurfer much more
  aptly describes the new line." An important innovation in the
  HotSurfers will be a second drive bay designed either to hold a
  hot-swappable storage device or a special purse. The new
  PowerBooks will have strong enough shells that for many events a
  protective carrying case won't be necessary. By stowing a wallet
  and other essentials in the purse, HotSurfer owners can attend
  such events looking "streamlined and elegant," not "burdened with
  accessories."

  In addition, to help users avoid the awkward look and feel of
  operating a computer attached to a snake's nest of cables, the
  company is aggressively partnering with technology companies that
  support wireless communications.

  Victoria's Secret also plans a new line of PowerBook cases. Cassie
  Connolly, Director of Accessory Fashions explained, "Most of
  today's PowerBook cases operate on a functional level only. Our
  customers want cases that express personality or inject a humorous
  note. Cases will range from elegant satin or velvet items to
  whimsical options, decorated with lace, silk flowers, and faux
  fruit." Straw cases will be sold only in warmer climates; look for
  quilting and polar fleece in colder areas. The buzz on the street
  suggests that a matching line of hats may be in the making.

  Perhaps the most exciting part of the buyout, though, is that
  every Victoria's Secret store is adding a special PowerBook sales
  area right up front. Many big malls have a Victoria's Secret
  store, and with the displays slated to combine eye-popping models
  holding slick looking PowerBooks, not only should business should
  be brisk, but consumers should see the Macintosh portable market
  in a more favorable light. Executives at Power Computing are
  already working with Victoria's Secret on sublicensing and cross-
  marketing deals.

<http://smeg.com/backwards/b2.cgi?url=www.powercc.com/>

  Will Victoria's Secret introduce unisex- or male-oriented
  PowerBook models? Ms. Kahn noted, "We don't want guys to feel
  excluded - sure, our cases will appeal more to women, at least in
  the short term. However, we think we can make PowerBooks that
  appeal to both sexes. We don't look at our upcoming PowerBooks so
  much as for one sex or another, but for people who have fashion
  sense or want to look glamorous while computing."


TidBITS Web Surfing Party Game
------------------------------
  by Noslrac Yerffej <kepi@halcyon.com>

  With the recent rise of "Geek culture," the long-held
  misperception that computer users are solitary, electronic slaves
  is slowly receding like a ten percent drop shadow. Geeks have
  asserted for years that they can party as hard as any
  testosterone-filled football player. To prove it, we present the
  TidBITS Web Surfing Party Game (TBWSPG, pronounced "Fred").

  Fred is best experienced in a group setting (say, a rack of office
  cubicles at lunchtime), but you can also play at home alone or
  networked, of course. To play, choose your favorite drink, connect
  to your ISP, and start surfing the Web. Remember to be
  responsible, and hand over the mouse when you've drunk too much.


**Drink once if:**

* your modem has to redial when connecting to your ISP (if more
  than five times, stop drinking and cancel that darn AOL account
  already!).
* you see a "Best Viewed With..." tag (twice if it's animated)
* you get any error message (bad URL, etc.)
* you see an under construction sign
* you view a page with a Web counter (twice if it's a broken
  graphic)
* you view a blink tag (not necessary to drink for every blink)
* you come across a Java applet (twice if it doesn't load)
* you see the phrase "cool links"
* a background sound loads (you also must dance with drink in
  hand)
* your browser crashes
* you have to resize the browser window
* a graphic doesn't load


**Drink twice if:**

* you hit a JavaScript error
* you arrive at a password-protected site (if you can guess the
  password in three tries, collect a dollar from everyone in the
  room and chug drink)
* you find a home page purportedly belonging to someone's pet.
* "cool" is spelled "kewl"
* you have to download a plug-in and restart your browser
* the graphics are broken on a Web designer's home pages


**Special:**

* If you hit a Shockwave project, you have to wait to drink until
  it's downloaded. (This is a good chance to walk to the store for
  more drinks, render 3D images, or write a new operating system.)


$$

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TidBITS#372/31-Mar-97
=====================

  Speculating about Apple, while not yet named as an official
  Olympic sport, is certainly popular enough to be considered for
  the Exhibition category. In this issue, Adam examines much of the
  Apple speculating that's going on and offers his own views about
  Apple's directions. We also cover Apple's presence at the recent
  Internet World, and look in detail at Snapz Pro, a snappy new tool
  for creating screenshots.

Topics:
    MailBITS/31-Mar-97
    Apple's Decisions
    iWorld and Welcome to It
    Say Cheese! Snapz Pro

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-372.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#372_31-Mar-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
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* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
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* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.1, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS#372!
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   ---------------------------------------------------------------

MailBITS/31-Mar-97
------------------

**Express Yourself to Microsoft** -- Microsoft's new Macintosh
  Office development team (about 100 developers dedicated to working
  on the Macintosh version of Microsoft Office 97) has posted a set
  of survey questions on the Web, the answers to which they hope
  will help them make Office more Mac-like. The mainstays of Office,
  Excel and Word, are among the most important Macintosh
  applications - without them, the Mac would have little to no
  chance of being sold in quantities to large businesses. Thus, it's
  in all of our interests to encourage Microsoft to create more
  Mac-like applications, much as the MS Bay team is doing with the
  Mac version of Internet Explorer. [ACE]

<http://www.hinfo.com/ask97/mac/m1.htm>


**New from Cupertino** -- Last week, Apple formally rolled out the
  powerful Newton MessagePad 2000 and the sleek Twentieth
  Anniversary Macintosh, while also announcing availability of
  OpenDoc 1.2. Regarded by some as the first truly functional
  Newton-based device, the MessagePad 2000 is powered by a 160 MHz
  StrongARM processor, features reportedly excellent handwriting
  recognition, and operates vertically or horizontally. The
  Twentieth Anniversary Mac, on the other hand, seems like a device
  for prominent display in a gallery, and with its $7,500 price tag,
  buyers might choose to consider it modern art. On the software
  side, the new version of OpenDoc (4.3 MB download) fixes bugs
  dealing with international systems, increases stability in low-
  memory conditions, and supports Apple Guide 2.1, although some
  OpenDoc applications (like Nisus Writer 5.0) reportedly do not
  work correctly with OpenDoc 1.2. [JLC]

<http://www.twentiethanniversary.apple.com/>
<http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/datasheets/pi/mp2000.html>
<http://www.opendoc.apple.com/users/getod.html>


**Internet Explorer 3.0.1b1** -- Microsoft has released a beta of
  Internet Explorer 3.0.1; this release supports JavaScript, both
  68K and PowerPC Macs, plus a new Download Manager, the ability to
  accept or decline HTTP cookies, and a search feature tied directly
  to Yahoo. Downloads vary from 2.6 MB to a stunning 9.5 MB for the
  full install. [GD]

<http://www.microsoft.com/ie/mac/default.htm>


Apple's Decisions
-----------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  We've spent a lot of time and energy in recent TidBITS issues
  looking at the moves Gil Amelio and Apple management made to bring
  the company back to profitability. There's no question that some
  moves were more popular than others, but I think the time has come
  to delve into what might be going on, or at least what a
  significant number of people feel might be going on.


**What Else Could Gil Have Done?** Apple has taken flak for
  decisions to lay off employees, terminate some technologies, and
  place other projects in maintenance mode. I'm certainly guilty of
  harassing Apple about decisions I feel were mistakes, but let's
  face it: Gil had to do something. Apple lost a lot of money in
  1996, and clearly that trend would continue in 1997 unless drastic
  action was taken. The recent announcements were that drastic
  action.

  With no reason to assume sales would exceed all expectations, the
  only way Apple could regain profitability was to cut costs.
  Reportedly, a single engineer costs Apple about $150,000 per year
  in salary, benefits, support structure, office space, and so on.
  Not all of the 2,700 employees laid off were engineers, of course,
  and the 1,400 contractors and temps were undoubtedly cheaper, but
  even if you assume a savings of $100,000 per person, that's $410
  million.

  More important, unlike previous Apple layoffs, this one was
  combined with elimination of projects. That's depressing but
  realistic, since it means Apple isn't expecting to continue with
  business as usual, just with fewer people. You can't lay off 4,100
  workers and expect to do everything you did while they were there.

  That said, I would have liked to see Apple address its financial
  problems in other ways as well. First, where were the voluntary
  pay cuts and eliminations of bonuses for the executive staff? It
  seems hypocritical for executives to eliminate 4,100 employees not
  take pay cuts themselves. The buck stops at Gil Amelio, and I
  think it's only fair to have fewer bucks stop at his paycheck.

  Second, were the Apple technologies cut of so little value that
  they couldn't be sold to raise money, such as with
  videoconferencing? Alternately, couldn't Apple have created
  technology incubators with these projects? Form a new company
  around each one, give the source code to the former Apple
  employees, provide some administrative support resources, and
  retain 40 percent ownership. If they succeed, Apple makes money
  and Mac users benefit; if they fail, Apple loses nothing more than
  what was already being thrown away.


**The NeXT Takeover** -- One theme among the mail I've received
  about Apple's recent changes is the perception that former NeXT
  employees are now making Apple's decisions. One person even
  commented that it felt like NeXT had bought Apple, not the other
  way around. To some extent, these perceptions are accurate - after
  all, Avie Tevanian and Jon Rubinstein, two ex-NeXT folks, are in
  charge of the operating system and hardware divisions.

  In the past, Apple has been accused of a "Not Invented Here"
  syndrome (NIH), where the only technologies perceived to be
  worthwhile were those developed within Apple. Now, some feel the
  NIH syndrome has been reversed, with internal Apple technologies
  being viewed as inferior and over-engineered. The NeXT acquisition
  is the best example of this - there's some question if, had Apple
  really buckled down, bringing Copland to fruition would have cost
  $400 million and taken until 1998. Buying NeXT was a bold move,
  but it was neither cheap nor immediate relief from Apple's
  technology troubles.

  The fact that concerns me most is that many of the comments about
  NeXT engineers making the important decisions come from Apple
  employees, Apple insiders (often former employees), and long-time
  Macintosh developers. Psychologically, I'm sure there's resentment
  about being bailed out by the acquisition of NeXT, a company whose
  technological achievements may be significant but didn't result in
  a profitable business. Similarly, from the NeXT point of view,
  becoming part of Apple gives former NeXT employees a chance to
  show off to a true mass market - so an interest in pushing their
  technology over Apple technology shouldn't be surprising.

  In essence, the acquisition of NeXT is having a significant impact
  on Apple's culture. That's not necessarily bad, but it can make
  for an occasionally acrimonious transition. The question is
  whether the attitudes and beliefs that made the Macintosh special
  can survive in the new atmosphere.


**Mac OS 95/Mac OS NT** -- As I was talking with friends about the
  Rhapsody networking issues, I realized that the issue of the Mac
  OS and Rhapsody coexisting is worth additional thought. Consider
  the following:

* At best, Rhapsody will be available for users in early 1998. So,
  developing for the Mac OS isn't a bad move for several years yet.
  The existing market isn't going away, and Mac OS machines will
  outnumber Rhapsody-capable machines for a long time.

* Although it will reportedly be easy to program for Rhapsody (and
  some Unix applications can be ported without much trouble),
  Rhapsody's Yellow Box will have relatively few applications for
  some time. There's a distinct risk of Rhapsody being marginalized
  unless Mac OS applications running in the Blue Box or on Mac OS
  machines carry it along.

* Rhapsody will have preemptive multitasking and protected memory
  for Yellow Box applications, which means that they could perform
  better and more reliably. In addition, things like the file system
  should have better performance, making the Yellow Box the obvious
  target for server applications and other situations where
  stability and performance are paramount. But, with the vast
  majority of the Mac market and the most applications, Mac OS
  machines will probably be the main clients for Rhapsody servers.

  Now, doesn't the differentiation between the Mac OS and Rhapsody
  sound like the difference between Windows 95 and Windows NT? They
  look the same, and most applications work under both, but Windows
  NT has fewer native applications and is more trouble to set up and
  maintain. But, Windows 95 doesn't share NT's stability and
  performance. The main difference is that Windows 95 and Windows NT
  share the same programmer interfaces (APIs), so properly written
  applications run on both Windows 95 and NT. In contrast,
  Rhapsody's Yellow Box applications won't run on non-Rhapsody Macs,
  and existing Mac OS applications won't be able to take advantage
  of the preemptive multitasking and protected memory of the Yellow
  Box.

  Comparisons to other Microsoft operating system switches may also
  be relevant. Even today, some PC games basically don't run in
  Windows, and users run them from DOS (which isn't possible with an
  NT-only machine). Similarly, some current Windows programs are
  still 16-bit and don't support such niceties as long filenames. In
  other words, switching from one operating system to another is
  seldom a clean process, and even Microsoft hasn't escaped its DOS
  and Windows 3.x legacy. In contrast, Apple has handled its
  operating system upgrades and even the move from the 680x0 to the
  PowerPC chip with aplomb. Will Apple maintain that level of
  consistency and excellent user experience in the future, with the
  move to Rhapsody?


**For Sale or Breakup?** Some of my more business-oriented friends
  have commented that Apple's recent moves might be gussying up the
  company for acquisition. Drop unprofitable products, eliminate
  technologies that haven't taken the world by storm, lay off 4,100
  employees, and suddenly Apple becomes a more attractive
  acquisition target. We know Apple has had acquisition discussions
  with companies such as Sun Microsystems in the past; is it far-
  fetched to think Apple might consider such a move again? Rumors
  have already surfaced of a group of investors (led by Oracle CEO
  Larry Ellison) buying Apple.

  Here's another, less-depressing thought: one of Apple's long-term
  problems is that it has always tried to do everything: hardware,
  operating systems, new technologies, application software, server
  software, and so on. Trying to do everything often causes
  conflicts, both internally and with third-party developers. Might
  it make sense to break Apple into three different companies, each
  of which could focus on its own goals more seriously?

  One company would focus on operating systems and low-level
  technologies. As an independent company, it could focus on
  technologies that would advance the industry and earn licensing
  fees (can you say QuickTime?). That would probably mean more
  emphasis on cross-platform technologies and operating systems, and
  on shipping products in a reasonable time frame. It might also
  mean alliances with technology development projects in higher
  education, often the bellwether for the computer industry.

  I see another company devoted to hardware, and since Apple has
  always made some of the best computer hardware, that company could
  make decisions that would let it be as successful as possible. If
  that meant making Intel-based hardware, so be it. Claris has made
  a lot of money selling Windows software, and the money is just as
  green on other platforms (in the U.S. anyway, where we have dull-
  looking money).

  The third company would devote itself to application and utility
  software. Apple already has such a company in Claris, although I
  think Claris would do well to take over a number of additional
  products currently controlled by Apple. Even the Finder, which is
  just another application, could move to Claris, which could make
  different versions for different markets or platforms. I'd love to
  see the Finder instead of the standard Windows 95 interface.

  Of course, this is mostly a thought exercise: I'm not in charge of
  anything at Apple, and I doubt Apple would do something so
  drastic. The question is, in such a situation, would there be an
  Apple Computer? If the answer is no, would that matter if the
  Macintosh survived and continued to thrive? When I commented in
  TidBITS-370_ that customer loyalty to Apple was at an all-time low
  while users remained loyal to the Macintosh, email comments
  flooded in, agreeing 100 percent. It's an interesting phenomenon,
  and one that Apple and the Mac clone vendors would do well take
  into account.

  Perhaps, in the end, Macintosh is an experience, not a machine.


iWorld and Welcome to It
------------------------
  by Matt Neuburg <matt@tidbits.com>

  Myriad are the ways in which technological and economic experts
  propose to assist you with the Internet, as I discovered at the
  Spring Internet World convention held the week of 10-Mar-97 in Los
  Angeles. They want to give you access, give you faster access,
  restrict your employees' access, give the outside world access to
  you, restrict outside access. They want to push, help you push,
  sell to you, help you sell, help you gather information, advertise
  for you, advertise to you. They want to teach you about it, teach
  you to program it, teach you to use it effectively, sell you books
  and magazines about it, and teach you to make money from it in
  dozens of ways from ISP to entrepreneur. They want to host
  conventions about it, and sell you CDs about the conventions.
  Everyone from cataloguers to meteorologists has a site for you to
  visit, and you in turn are supposed to brighten your site with
  powerful software, professional design, dynamic response, and
  high-bandwidth innovations.

<http://events.iworld.com/spring97/iw/>

  It was fun in that exhausting way that these conventions are; and
  I learned a thing or two. The convention struck me as indicative
  of how the Internet largely remains little more than a tentative
  state of mind. There can't be many true experts on Web site design
  or how to make money on the net, because the former (aside from
  being a moving target) has existed only briefly, and the latter is
  a complete mystery [except, perhaps, to X-rated sites, which
  according to recent media reports are an extremely successful
  example of Internet commerce -Adam]. So, the idea that such people
  exist and can pontificate to us - and that we will pay them to do
  so - is the product of a kind of self-hypnosis.

  Indeed, the entire event seemed a smoke-and-mirrors affair;
  especially compared to Macintosh conventions. Attendance the first
  day was meagre: aisles that, at a Macworld Expo, would have been
  shoulder-to-shoulder one minute after opening time, were nearly
  empty. At talks, sound systems were muddy, projection facilities
  were unreliable. Email stations were rows of PCs poorly configured
  and so tightly crammed together that you couldn't move the mouse.
  Nearly every demonstrator bemoaned the abysmal Internet access
  (another IBM triumph - remember the Atlanta Olympics?). In
  contrast to a Macworld Expo's feverish emporia, few booths had
  anything physically for sale: most were selling a dream, a hope, a
  future business relationship.

  As a Macintosh partisan, I instantly found myself a minority in an
  alien world. Here, Apple was but a minor player, and everything
  had an unfamiliar slant, starting with all the demos on PCs -
  including General Magic's Magic Cap under Windows - and extending
  to the unaccustomed non-Apple philosophy that predominated.
  Watching someone from Microsoft smugly demonstrate how Internet
  Explorer and the operating system will be so tightly integrated
  that the webmaster will determine what applications the user can
  see from the desktop, I barely refrained from saying that if my
  computer ever did that to me I would hurl it out the window.

  Apple CEO Gil Amelio's keynote speech was the first good
  performance I've seen from him - intelligent, coherent, even
  dynamic, recalling the legend of the dying swan's terminal song.
  His choice of four pieces of software historically representative
  of the Mac's unique importance - PageMaker, HyperCard, Director,
  and Frontier - seemed to me one of Apple's more perceptive self-
  assessments. I may not have agreed with everything he said (Apple
  is betting the farm on gaining 15 percent of the Web server market
  share? how?) but I did feel for once like defending his right to
  say it. And the demos, especially of Frontier and of QuickTime
  3.0, were stunning.

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/speeches/1997/q2/970312.amelio.iworld1.html>

  I also attended a talk on Apple and Java, where the speaker was
  somewhat hamstrung both by the approach of Black Friday (then only
  four days away - see TidBITS-370_) with its attendant unknowns and
  by Apple's general Java uncertainty. The present situation is
  reflected by Mac OS Runtime for Java, but the future is expressed
  as a vague diagram in which Java looms as a mysterious third
  beside the Blue Box (System 7 and its heirs) and the Yellow Box
  (OpenStep). I admit to bemusement as to the wisdom of this, since
  if Java becomes a full citizen the Mac OS may lose its
  distinctiveness and hence its appeal. I did come away feeling
  friendlier to Java than previously, at least.

  Amidst all the glitter, I found two sites that particularly
  impressed me with their promise. SemioMap makes a Java applet and
  a search tool which coordinate to provide an MCF-like
  visualization of related topics on the Web (or any other data
  collection). StockSmart is a living advertisement for Java and for
  Oracle Corporation; even if you don't care about stocks, this is a
  fine and generous presentation of live, searchable data.

<http://www.semio.com/>
<http://www.stocksmart.com/>


Say Cheese! Snapz Pro
---------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  I just finished another book, and the books I write require
  screenshots. Previously, I relied on a shareware screenshot
  utility called Flash-It. Written by Nobu Toge and last updated in
  1993, Flash-It 3.0.2 continues to function today, surprising for a
  utility that works at such a low-level.

  That is, Flash-It continues to work well with one notable (if not
  surprising) exception: Microsoft applications. If I were a
  conspiracy buff, I'd say Nobu Toge did that on purpose, but that's
  unlikely since most of the Microsoft programs it has trouble with
  didn't exist in 1993. Some problems were minor, such as bits of
  color showing in screenshots taken when the monitor was set to 256
  grays.

  Internet Explorer 3.0, though, was the final straw for poor Flash-
  It due to problems in Standard File dialogs, so I went looking for
  another screenshot utility. I didn't go far, because Ambrosia
  Software posted their $20 shareware Snapz Pro 1.0.1 to Info-Mac
  that very day, and I've used it happily since. There are many
  other screenshot programs out there, but Snapz Pro met my
  immediate needs, so I didn't look further. Perhaps some day I'll
  compare them all, but for now I'm sticking with Snapz Pro.

<http://www.ambrosiasw.com/Products/SnapzPro.html>


**Loading the Film** -- Snapz Pro installs a single control panel,
  but you only use it for basic setup. Clicking the Settings button
  brings up a small dialog where you choose the Snapz Key that
  invokes Snapz Pro (it defaults to Command-Shift-3). A checkbox
  toggles sound effects. Snapz Pro only saves screenshots in PICT
  format (which may seem slightly limiting - more on that later),
  but you can choose which program will open those PICTs when you
  double-click them in the Finder. Finally, a pair of radio buttons
  let you select whether invoking Snapz Pro should open the Snapz
  palette (the program's primary interface) or take the screenshot
  with the last-used capture tool.


**Click the Shutter** -- When the time comes to take a screenshot,
  you arrange the screen however you want, and, if necessary, drop a
  menu. Then you press the Snapz Key, which brings up the Snapz
  palette.

  The palette contains four large buttons for the different capture
  tools: Screen, Window, Menu, and Selection. Below the four capture
  tool buttons are three pop-up menus. One lets you choose where you
  want to send your screenshot: to a file in the Screen Snapz folder
  that Snapz Pro installs in your Apple menu, to the clipboard, to
  the printer, or to a file within a folder in your Screen Snapz
  folder. Another pop-up menu lets you set the scaling of your image
  from 10 to 400 percent in a variety of useful percentages. The
  final pop-up menu enables you to change the colors in your
  screenshot using different palettes, including Black/White, System
  palette, Greyscale palette (probably the standard for books),
  Thousands, and Windows palette.

  Checkboxes let you decide if the cursor should show in the
  screenshot and if you want to name each screenshot individually.
  If you choose not to name each screenshot, Snapz Pro names them
  using the name of the active program, several spaces, an
  incremented digit, and a ".pict" filename extension.

  Once the Snapz palette has appeared, you modify the settings in
  the pop-up menus and the checkboxes (Snapz Pro remembers your
  settings from the previous usage), then you click one of the four
  capture tool buttons. (There are also copious keyboard shortcuts.)
  The cursor changes to indicate which tool you've selected, after
  which you click on the screen, window, or menu you want to
  capture. Obviously, the Selection capture tool requires you to
  drag out a rectangular selection instead of just clicking, and the
  Menu capture tool is unavailable unless you had a menu dropped
  when you invoked Snapz Pro. Helpfully, Snapz Pro enables you to
  select which sub-menu you capture of a set of visible hierarchical
  menus, and by default captures all visible sub-menus down from the
  one you click.

  As you click on a screen, menu, or window, or let up on the mouse
  button after making a selection, Snapz Pro makes a clicking
  shutter noise and inverts the area you've captured, providing
  visual feedback about your target area. If you're saving to a file
  and you've selected the checkbox to choose the file name, a small
  dialog appears where you can enter the name (it's not a Standard
  File dialog, and the file will be stored in the pre-specified
  folder). If you enter the name of an existing screenshot, Snapz
  Pro asks you to confirm that you want to replace it.

  The well-written Snapz Pro documentation outlines various options
  you can apply to each of the capture tools. For instance, pressing
  Option causes the Snapz palette to reappear so you can take more
  screenshots immediately. The Command key modifies the Screen
  capture tool to capture all attached monitors, and also modifies
  the Window capture tool to capture only the window content. When
  using the Selection capture tool, Shift constrains the selection's
  shape to a square, and Command tries to select the smallest area
  in the selection that is not of a certain "bluescreen" color.


**Developing the Image** -- For my purposes, Snapz Pro's ability
  to change the palette to greyscale was helpful, but not
  sufficient. The publisher, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, wanted screenshots
  in TIFF format, and Snapz Pro only takes PICTs. Luckily, the free
  clip2gif from Yves Piguet works wonderfully for converting files
  with a single drag & drop action.

<http://iawww.epfl.ch/Staff/Yves.Piguet/clip2gif-home/>

  Clip2gif proved useful later on as well. My publisher wanted me to
  print all the screenshots and label them with the appropriate
  figure numbers. This was a pain, but it's hard to argue with
  production departments - you don't want them to mess up your
  screenshots. I turned on the Desktop Printer capabilities in
  System 7.5.5, selected the screenshots for a chapter, and dropped
  them on the desktop printer icon, which resulted in the files
  printing in the order that they appeared in the Finder window
  (View by Name in this case).

  The only problem was that if I used the SimpleText PICT files,
  SimpleText printed multiple pages for the larger screenshots.
  Since the paper copies were merely representative of the
  screenshots, I saw no reason to waste paper printing edges that
  flowed onto a second page. If, however, I dropped the clip2gif
  TIFF files on the desktop printer, clip2gif displayed the Print
  dialog for each file, allowing me to specify that I wanted to
  print only the first page of each one.


**Image Problems** -- Although Snapz Pro met my immediate needs,
  it isn't perfect. The feature I would have most liked to see is an
  option to set the pattern for automatically naming and numbering
  screenshots. The basic capability is obviously there - what's
  lacking is an interface to let the user specify a more useful
  pattern to the names and numbers, like "Figure 23-12."

  Also annoying was the requirement that the screenshots end up in
  the Screen Snapz folder in my Apple Menu Items folder. I partition
  my hard disk in very specific ways, and I don't like being forced
  to save files in one place, much less in my System Folder.
  Whenever I finished taking screenshots for a chapter, I had to
  copy them to the proper location for them on my hard disk. The
  destination folder should be configurable.

  Finally, I could see adding the capability to send screenshots to
  more than one place at a time - I would have tried printing a
  screenshot at the same time I saved it to a file, especially if
  Snapz Pro could scale it to fit on a single page and automatically
  print the filename as a footer on the page. Perhaps that's
  excessive, but authors would appreciate the flexibility.


**Choosing the Camera** -- I used Snapz Pro for about a month and
  took over 80 screenshots with it, so I felt comfortable paying the
  $20 shareware fee via Ambrosia's Web site (Snapz Pro reminds you
  about paying after 15 days of use by telling you how long you've
  had it and how many screenshots you've taken, which I rather miss
  now that I've paid, since I'm generally curious about how many
  screenshots I've taken). I never experienced crashing problems,
  and it's a fat binary, so its performance was always snappy on my
  Power Mac 8500.

  If you're not happy with the built-in screenshot capability in the
  Mac OS, (press Command-Shift-3 to try it; in Mac OS 7.6, you can
  also press Command-Shift-4 to make a selection or capture a
  window), Snapz Pro is worth a look. It's a solid utility, and a
  great example of a program that works well as shareware.


$$

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TidBITS#374/07-Apr-97
=====================

  This week opened with a bang as Microsoft announced plans to
  purchase the Internet start-up WebTV, Connectix announced its
  Pentium-emulating Virtual PC, and Apple delivered the free Mac OS
  7.6.1 Update, which eliminates most Type 11 errors by decree.
  Also, Tonya reviews Akimbo's Globetrotter Web site creation tool,
  and we welcome StarNine as a new TidBITS sponsor.

Topics:
    MailBITS/07-Apr-97
    Apple Releases Mac OS 7.6.1
    Globetrotter: Brilliant Yet Bewildering

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-374.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#374_07-Apr-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.1, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS#374! <--------- NEW!
   Performa 6200 8MB/1GB/CD 15" monitor, refurbished: $979
   More Info: <http://www.smalldoggy.com/#tid> -- 802/496-7171

* StarNine Technologies -- 800/525-2580 -- <info@starnine.com> <--- NEW!
   Top Internet tools: WebSTAR, WebCollage, ListSTAR, and more.
   Download your free demos now: <http://www.starnine.com/>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

MailBITS/07-Apr-97
------------------

**StarNine Technologies Sponsoring TidBITS** -- We're extremely
  pleased to welcome our latest sponsor, StarNine Technologies. As
  many of you know, StarNine makes the popular Macintosh Web and
  mailing list servers, WebSTAR and ListSTAR, along with some mail
  gateways and Quarterdeck Mail (nee Microsoft Mail). The other
  products notwithstanding, WebSTAR and then ListSTAR really put
  StarNine on the map for us.

  WebSTAR began as the shareware MacHTTP, created by Chuck Shotton.
  When Chuck announced that StarNine had acquired MacHTTP and would
  be renaming it WebSTAR, we were concerned. Not all shareware makes
  the transition to the commercial world, but Chuck and StarNine did
  well, making WebSTAR the leading Mac Web server and continuing to
  push the feature and performance envelopes.

  As important as WebSTAR is (and TidBITS uses it for our Web
  server), ListSTAR saved our bacon in August of 1996, when Rice
  University shut down the aging IBM mainframe that had been hosting
  the TidBITS mailing list. We moved the entire list to a Power Mac
  7100 running ListSTAR, and it (along with a custom FileMaker
  database) has run smoothly since. Considering that there are over
  46,000 people on the TidBITS list, ListSTAR demonstrates the fact
  that Macintosh is a serious Internet server machine.

  In September of 1995, the now-beleaguered Quarterdeck Corporation
  acquired StarNine, which initially looked like a synergistic move.
  Little development came of it, but StarNine has remained a wholly-
  owned subsidiary and thrives on its own. We're happy to see
  StarNine supporting the Internet community via their sponsorship
  of TidBITS and other Macintosh resources like the Info-Mac Digest.
  [ACE]


**Microsoft Buying WebTV** -- On 06-Apr-97, Microsoft announced a
  surprising $425 million dollar stock and cash deal to buy WebTV
  Networks, Inc., makers of the WebTV set-top box that enables users
  to surf the Web via their television (see TidBITS-367_). Already a
  content provider with efforts like MSN and MSNBC, WebTV also gives
  Microsoft a strong foothold in an emerging online consumer
  electronics market and - perhaps more importantly - may let
  Microsoft control key patents relating to set-top box design and
  software technology. [GD]

<http://www.sjmercury.com/business/webtv.htm>


**PC in a Mac** -- No, it's not a late April Fools joke, though it
  does point the way to another method for keeping a Mac on your
  desk and running PC software when necessary. Connectix, makers of
  RAM Doubler, has announced Virtual PC, Macintosh software that
  emulates a Pentium-based PC. Because Virtual PC aims to emulate a
  processor, not an operating system, it reportedly will enable Mac
  users to run off-the-shelf versions of DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, and
  NT, plus NeXT OpenStep and OS/2, with support for key PC options
  including SoundBlaster Pro, Ethernet, printing, and modems.
  Virtual PC should ship in June and run on any Power Mac with
  System 7.5. Although there are emulation alternatives like
  Insignia's SoftWindows or plugging in a hardware card, I expect
  that Virtual PC will inject new blood into the emulation market.
  Connectix -- 800/950-5880 -- 415/571-5100 -- 415-571-5195 (fax)
  <info@connectix.com> [TJE]

<http://www.connectix.com/connect/CVPC.PR.html>


**Microsoft says thanks** to the TidBITS and Evangelist readers
  who took part in the "Mac-likeness" survey mentioned in
  TidBITS-372_. Despite problems with their server, Microsoft
  collected more than ten times the data it was looking for in
  a week and a half, and says it received a strong message about
  what Macintosh users expect from software. Nice job, folks -
  we'll see if we can convince Microsoft to pass along the survey
  results. If you didn't get a chance to take the survey, Microsoft
  has a general feedback area where users can comment on any of
  their products. [GD]

<http://www.microsoft.com/regwiz/wiz6.asp>


Apple Releases Mac OS 7.6.1
---------------------------
  by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>

  Today, Apple released Mac OS 7.6.1 in three forms: four disk
  images for owners of Mac OS 7.6, five disk images for owners of
  PowerBook 3400s, and a full Mac OS CD-ROM. The disk images
  versions are freely available for downloading from Apple's
  Internet sites; getting physical copies is more complicated, but
  CD-ROM (for owners of the latest Macs) or floppy disk versions can
  be obtained through Apple's Mac OS Up-To-Date program (800/335-
  9258). For further information, see the files that accompany the
  online version of the update or URLs below.

<http://support.info.apple.com/ftp/7.6.1.html>
<http://www.macos.apple.com/macos/releases/fulfillment.html>

  Online, the Mac OS 7.6.1 Update is available as a net install or
  as disk images totalling about 6.5 MB. The 7.6.1 disk images use
  Apple's new NDIF format, so you must use the newly-revised
  DiskCopy 6.1.2 (itself a 1.1 MB download) to use the disk image
  (utilities like ShrinkWrap don't yet support Apple's new format).
  You don't need DiskCopy to use the net install version.

<ftp://ftp.info.apple.com//Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/
Macintosh/Utilities/Disk_Copy_6.1.2.sea.hqx>

  Currently, Mac OS 7.6.1 Update is only available for U.S. English
  system software. Apple says localized versions of the update
  should be available within 90 days.


**So What Is It?** Mac OS 7.6.1 is mostly an incremental OS update
  to support new Apple hardware, like the PowerBook 3400 and the
  Power Mac 4400, 5500, 6500, 7300, 8600 and 9600 models. It's not
  intended to offer new features or add items released since Mac OS
  7.6, like Open Transport 1.1.2 or Macintosh Runtime for Java.
  However, it also contains a handful of subtle fixes that can be
  useful for owners of Mac OS 7.6. (For a detailed overview of Mac
  OS 7.6, see TidBITS-363_). Remember: unless you buy the full
  CD-ROM version of 7.6.1, you must already own Mac OS 7.6 to
  upgrade to Mac OS 7.6.1.


**About Those Type 11 Errors...** The big talk about Mac OS 7.6.1
  is the elimination of nearly all Type 11 crashes on PowerPC-based
  Macintoshes, which at first glance seems like a spectacular thing.
  Unfortunately, this has been widely misinterpreted in discussion
  forums and some press reports as a giant leap in the stability of
  Mac OS 7.6.1 over previous releases.

  Here's the real story: before Mac OS 7.6.1, most crashes in Power-
  PC native code were mapped to the error number 11, which stands
  for a generic fatal error. Frequently, the Macintosh had another
  error code that accurately described the problem, but because the
  crash happened in PowerPC code the Mac couldn't do anything more
  precise, and users saw the number 11. The big change in Mac OS
  7.6.1 is that errors in PowerPC code now map to the _correct_
  error numbers. This doesn't mean the crashes have gone away, but
  rather that the system software can now report them accurately.

  So what? If the crash is still going to happen, what does it
  matter if a different error number is reported? The difference is
  in how the Mac can handle those errors. Without a low-level
  debugger like MacsBug installed, a Type 11 error forces the
  immediate restart of your computer: there's no opportunity to save
  work in other programs. Under Mac OS 7.6.1, most of these errors
  will simply cause the offending application to quit (resulting in
  a familiar "application has unexpectedly quit" dialog) rather than
  a complete restart of the machine. You _should_ still restart your
  Mac after such an error (there's no telling what the crashed
  application left in memory), but now you'll be able to save work
  in other applications, eject disks, or make a quick backup copy of
  an important file before you restart. Yes, it's still a crash, but
  in many cases it'll be a nicer crash.


**What Else Is There?** Mac OS 7.6.1 also includes CFM-68K 4.0
  (see TidBITS-369_), which lets 68K Macs run software (like
  Cyberdog, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.1, AOL 3.0, and
  LaserWriter 8.4) that requires the Code Fragment Manager. Support
  for CFM-68K was explicitly removed from Mac OS 7.6 due to
  potential serious problems, giving 68K owners little incentive to
  upgrade. Including CFM-68K 4.0 in Mac OS 7.6.1 lets Apple have a
  single version of the System software that offers comparable
  features for all 32-bit clean Macs (from the Mac IIci onwards).
  Mac OS 7.6.1 also includes Apple CD-ROM 5.3.3 (which supports
  high-speed IDE CD-ROM drives), Apple System Profiler 1.1.4, Apple
  Video Player 1.6 (now scriptable!), and improved software for
  PowerBook PC Cards.

  Mac OS 7.6.1 also includes a library called ObjectSupportLib 1.2,
  which is important if you do any Macintosh scripting, or need to
  run scripts on your Mac. In recent months there has been a
  cacophony of versions, reversions, and regressions of
  ObjectSupportLib, which would be funny if all the shenanigans
  hadn't caused so much confusion. Complete, gory details are
  available in an Apple Tech Note, but the bottom line is that you
  should use ObjectSupportLib 1.2, which is also available with many
  third-party products like Eudora and Internet Explorer.

<http://www.devworld.apple.com/dev/technotes/tn/tn1095.html>


**Miscellaneous Changes** -- Mac OS 7.6.1 includes a few other
  changes and bug fixes, including updates (and a larger memory
  allocation) in the Process Manager, improved IDE driver support,
  serial communications improvements in some Performa models, a fix
  in the DR (68K) emulator from 7.5.5 that was accidently left out
  of Mac OS 7.6, and anyone who still has to use old 400K MFS floppy
  disks will find that they're read-only under Mac OS 7.6.1. Apple
  has made a complete list of updated components, changes, and known
  problems in Mac OS 7.6.1 available in a Tech Note, including
  workarounds for problems with LaserWriter 8.3.4 (use version 8.4)
  and using Virtual Memory with DayStar 040 Upgrade cards.

<http://www.devworld.apple.com/dev/technotes/tn/tn1096.html>

  If you have a PowerBook 3400 and want to use both Mac OS 7.6.1 and
  Open Transport 1.1.2, install Open Transport 1.1.2 over System
  7.6, _then_ install the 3400s version of the 7.6.1 update, or
  you'll wind up with the wrong versions of some network resources.


**Should You Install 7.6.1?** If you own Mac OS 7.6 or one of the
  new machines Mac OS 7.6.1 is explicitly designed to support, then
  getting Mac OS 7.6.1 is probably a good idea. If you use or
  support a range of Macintoshes (including older 68K machines along
  with newer models) and need to have one comprehensive system
  release that will work well on all those machines, then the 7.6.1
  Update is worth some thought if you've already upgraded to Mac OS
  7.6. Otherwise, if you're looking for new features, bells, and
  whistles, it's probably best to wait for Mac OS 8 (Tempo), due to
  ship in July.


Globetrotter: Brilliant Yet Bewildering
---------------------------------------
  by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>

  Globetrotter Web Publisher 1.1.1, created by Akimbo Systems
  (publishers of the FullWrite word processor), blends word
  processing and HTML editing features to make a brilliant but
  bewildering Web authoring tool.

<http://www.akimbo.com/>


**Excuses, Excuses** -- Ideally, TidBITS would have published this
  review in late 1996, soon after Globetrotter 1.0 shipped.
  Unfortunately, I was slowed by my Macintosh's strange crashing
  problems with Modern Memory Manager turned off (more on that
  later), Globetrotter's documentation, and my false expectation
  that Globetrotter shipped as it was billed in pre-release versions
  - as software intended for people who want to print documents and
  publish them as Web sites.

  Instead, over time, I learned that Globetrotter is aimed at those
  who want to make Web pages using word processing tools.
  Globetrotter also works reasonably well for producing printed
  documents, but that's primarily a side-effect of the fact that
  Globetrotter has much in common with FullWrite.


**Don't Worry, Be Happy** -- Open a new Globetrotter document, and
  you'll see a rich set of menus. Some have a good set of keyboard
  shortcuts, but others - particularly menus for tables and forms -
  lack shortcuts.

  You'll also notice buttons for switching between Browser View and
  Page View. In Browser View, you cannot make changes, but you can
  see how your document might appear on the Web. In Page View, you
  can edit documents, and additional buttons (such as two-page view)
  appear and modify Page View. I spent most of my time in Page View
  because my Mac crashed four of the first five times I tried to
  switch into Browser view.

  To make a Web page in Globetrotter, just start typing. You can
  also paste in text or import files via XTND. You can apply formats
  like bold, small caps, or strikeout, change fonts and sizes, and
  even change text color. Globetrotter refers to formats using word
  processing terminology, with nary an <EM> or <STRONG> to be seen.

  There are few ways to control (or - in some cases - predict) how
  Globetrotter will convert formats to HTML. If you have no interest
  in HTML, you won't care, since the resulting Web pages tend to
  look fine. You can customize the occasional format; for instance,
  you can turn off <FONT FACE> so font choices don't end up in the
  HTML.

  Globetrotter feels like a word processor. Sometimes this is good,
  but other times it's weird, because Globetrotter operates on a
  printed page metaphor, not a screen metaphor. When you insert a
  page break after a few inches of text, you see a big blank area
  representing the rest of a sheet of paper. The blank area only
  shows in Globetrotter, not on the Web, and there's no way to set a
  custom page size that equates to a screen.

  The bulk of Globetrotter's Web publishing features are accessible
  through a regrettably modal, multi-tabbed Web Setup dialog box
  where you configure most Web-related details: whether recent
  changes should be color-coded or take on a "NEW!" graphic, the
  appearance of the default horizontal rule, settings for a
  navigation bar, and so on.


**Slip Between the Style Sheets** -- Globetrotter beats the
  PageMill-and-friends crowd with its ability to connect styles to
  how text appears on the Web. For example, to structure a site
  quickly, you could style main topics with a paragraph style called
  "Contents." Your site would consist of one Globetrotter file, but
  each topic would automatically appear at the top of a new Web
  page, tagged as an <H1> heading.

  Contents-styled topics could appear in a navigation bar on each
  page (a text-based bar or one based on Globetrotter's limited
  button set). Main topics could also appear in a bulleted list on a
  separate page or at the bottom of the first page. But, there's no
  way to customize this list, and no way to create list sub-heads.

  In Globetrotter, you can't see the list or the navigation bars,
  but they do appear when you preview or export to HTML. (Akimbo
  prefers the term "publish" instead of "export.") Styles strike me
  as the most important part of Globetrotter, and I can't understand
  why Akimbo demoted them to the bottom of a long menu, with no
  keyboard shortcuts. It would also be handy for Globetrotter to
  come with styles pre-set to match HTML tags. Styles like
  "Heading1" or "IndentedQuote" would easily map to HTML tags
  without confusing users, and they might push authors towards
  creating well-structured documents where tags indicate text's
  function in a document, not just its appearance.


**Links** -- Linking options are weak in Globetrotter. Linked text
  appears with a dotted underline, but you cannot wave the mouse
  over linked text to see the URL; instead, you must double-click
  the text to open a dialog containing the URL. Other problems
  include no single-step method for removing link information and no
  way to access frequently or recently used URLs.

  Although savvy Globetrotter users can handle intra-site links
  through styles, Globetrotter can also convert URLs in the text to
  links, or you can make links by hand. If you create a link by
  hand, you can choose a picture or button to represent the start of
  the link. The text that acts as the start of the link
  automatically appears in the button.

  Globetrotter has no link verification feature, but it can store
  URLs in its glossary. To use a stored URL, you type its name in
  angle brackets, like this: "<<URLname>>". On export, Globetrotter
  automatically swaps in the correct URL. If the URL changes, you
  simply change the glossary entry and export again.


**Graphics** -- Globetrotter has numerous graphics-related
  features and offers some uncommon ones. For instance, text
  formatted with fonts like Zapf Dingbats or Symbol converts to a
  graphic when you export to HTML. Additionally, horizontal rules
  can be individually customized or take on characteristics from the
  Web Setup dialog box, where you can even substitute a graphic for
  the standard horizontal rule.

  Globetrotter accepts PICT, PNTG, JPEG, and GIF files. Graphics can
  be linked from a document or incorporated into the document file.
  The program has transparency and interlacing features, and it can
  add <ALT> tags to images. There's no way to resize graphics by
  dragging their edges, though you can type numbers to change the
  height or width, or resize by percentage. Globetrotter can align a
  graphic with respect to text in a paragraph, but these alignments
  don't display in Page View, and popular options for wrapping text
  left or right of a graphic are not available.

  Although the half-baked alignment feature is a disappointment,
  image maps work well, with full support for client- and server-
  side options. The image map editor does a good job with the usual
  suite of features (sans a zoom), plus the capability to set <ALT>
  tags for any image map section and optionally have them show up in
  a text-based navigation bar below the image.

  Globetrotter sidebars can contain either graphics or text
  callouts, and they float on a page, with text wrapping around
  them. When published to the Web, the contents of a Globetrotter
  sidebar can convert to a graphic, a good way to create jazzy
  looking headlines. Sidebars can also be ignored, or published as
  separate, linked-to pages. Linked-to pages are titled with the
  contents of their first paragraph, and there's no way to customize
  that. Sidebars are another example of where word processing
  concepts feel funny, because you'd never guess to employ a sidebar
  to accomplish these tasks. Instead, you might look in vain for a
  Text to Graphic or Link to Page command.


**Forms** -- Choose Insert Form Here and Globetrotter pops up a
  dialog box asking how the form will communicate with your Web
  server. You can enter a URL to any CGI, or set up extensive
  options for how results might be mailed to you or stored in a
  tab-delimited text file. Options include the subject of the email
  file and an acknowledgment page that people receive after filling
  out the form. Globetrotter creates Perl scripts for these options
  (Perl 4 or 5, or MacPerl), and such scripts should work on a wide
  variety of servers, though people using Macintosh Web servers must
  set up an AppleScript for the email feature.

  Form elements are inserted from a menu and as you insert most
  elements, a detailed configuration dialog box opens. For each
  element, you can indicate whether its value should appear on the
  optional acknowledgment page. Regrettably, there is no toolbar or
  keyboard shortcuts for inserting form elements; Globetrotter comes
  with a Form Toolbar folder (in the Extras folder) that contains
  clipping files of form elements, but it's not much faster to drag
  elements in than it is to choose them from the menu.


**General Web Publishing Features** -- In addition to features
  I've already mentioned, Globetrotter has a Get Info dialog box
  that estimates download times for each page. There are options for
  including Java applets and embedding plug-in-type objects, and
  it's even possible to create annoying running type in the bottom
  of a browser window. In another feature list checkmark,
  Globetrotter has a Post command for uploading to a remote server.


**Tables** -- HTML table support is present, and it's possible to
  set up many table options, like vertical alignments, colors, and
  cell padding. Formatting is easy, though the modal Table Format
  dialog box has no Apply button, so experimenting with different
  table formats takes a lot of mousing. Some cell formats, most
  notably vertical alignment, must be set by double-clicking a tab
  marker in the ruler above the table. You can select cells
  horizontally and then apply a format (such as bold), but you
  cannot select vertically in order to format an entire column in
  one step. Globetrotter exports tables nicely to HTML, and even
  inserts extra characters to accommodate browsers that don't
  understand table tags.

  I ran into a bothersome problem where table cells wouldn't select
  or deselect properly. Akimbo eventually identified the problem as
  a bug with using black as the selection color.


**Writing Tools** -- Globetrotter packs a pile of helpful writing
  tools. The spelling checker ignores URLs and email addresses and
  can be controlled almost completely from the keyboard. It has a
  Valid in Doc command for indicating that words are correct only in
  the context of a particular document. The thesaurus strikes me as
  useful and friendly. The glossary combines an "auto-correct"
  feature with the more traditional ability to store frequently used
  bits of text, and the bits can be lengthy (according to Akimbo,
  they can exceed the often-bothersome 32K limit inherent to many
  such features).

  The reasonably capable Find dialog box can find and replace based
  on formatting information, and it supports a limited set of wild
  cards, an important, though undocumented feature: few people will
  guess at Option-X to represent any word and Shift-Option-? to
  represent a character.

  In short, compared to most HTML editors, Globetrotter offers more
  mature writing tools. It can sort numerically or alphabetically,
  offers clipboard-related commands like Copy Append and Paste Swap,
  and has variables for inserting updating elements like change date
  (complete with what look like features for running a print merge,
  though the documentation is silent on this topic).

  However, Globetrotter lacks two important word processing
  features. The first is a multiple undo, which I increasingly
  consider a necessity. Second, Globetrotter's outliner occupies a
  prominent position in the interface but is only good for creating
  the Web equivalent of basic lists, not for outlining an entire
  document. The outliner would shine if outline levels could be
  linked to Globetrotter's styles, which can be easily linked to
  HTML tags.


**Weak Documentation** -- Anyone who doesn't already know Akimbo's
  FullWrite will have a tough time learning Globetrotter, and even
  FullWrite aficionados will have trouble divining some of
  Globetrotter's unique features. Learning the ins and outs of
  Globetrotter has felt like a frustrating dialog with a teacher who
  gives bad grades but rarely explains the topic at hand.

  The interface does not lend itself to exploration; there is no
  toolbar and thus no tool tips, and nothing like Balloon Help or
  helpful dialog box comments. The heart of the Web-based
  documentation, called the Answer Guide, has about ten pages: Using
  Tables, Creating Forms, Formatting, and so on, and each page has a
  long list of questions and answers. There's no detailed table of
  contents and no index. I've read the documentation completely, and
  some of it multiple times. Even so, on many occasions, I only
  found out how to do something by inferring from a reference in the
  documentation, through the printed FullWrite manual, or by asking
  Akimbo directly.


**Memory Madness** -- Try to use Globetrotter on a Power Mac
  running any version of the Mac OS before 7.5.5, and it won't
  launch with Modern Memory Manager turned on, a trait perhaps
  unique to Globetrotter amongst all currently shipping Macintosh
  programs. Akimbo does this to avoid crashing, and points the
  finger at Apple as the cause of the problems. I found it
  tremendously annoying until I upgraded to Mac OS 7.6, because my
  Mac crashed frequently without Modern Memory Manager turned on,
  and basic troubleshooting failed to solve the problem.


**Too Many Features, Too Little Documentation** -- Globetrotter
  has a perplexing mix of word processing and Web site tools, almost
  as though Akimbo included a ton of features from FullWrite and
  then didn't have the mettle to look at the octopus it had created
  and sever some of the nonsensical arms. This impression comes in
  large part from the interface, which highlights trivial options
  like two-page view and outlining at the expense of important Web
  options like styles and the features accessible only through the
  modal Web Setup dialog.

  I have no quarrel with creating Web pages in a word processing
  environment, but I find it annoying to have irrelevant aspects of
  word processing thrust on me. If Globetrotter is for Web
  publishing, its documents don't look like it. Document windows
  should look more like a screen and less like a sheet of paper.
  Documents should be editable in a view that shows their
  approximate Web appearance, not a print preview. Sites should
  optionally display in a graphical or hierarchical overview so it's
  easy to understand the relationships between pages.

  If you use FullWrite and have little interest in learning HTML
  basics, Globetrotter may be a good choice for you. I think most
  people will find Globetrotter much better in its next release,
  when - hopefully - Akimbo will give the interface a makeover and
  supply more complete and better-organized documentation.

<http://www.akimbo.com/globetrotter/download.html>

  According to Akimbo, to run Globetrotter, you need at least a
  68020-based Mac running System 7.0, but they recommend a 68040- or
  PowerPC-based machine running System 7.5 or higher. You also need
  4 MB available application RAM and between 1 and 5 MB of disk
  space. Akimbo sells Globetrotter for $99 via a Web download. A 1.9
  MB demo is available from the Globetrotter Web site.

    Akimbo Systems -- 800/375-6515 -- 617/776-5500 -- <sales@akimbo.com>


$$

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 -------------------------------------------------------------------

TidBITS#375/14-Apr-97
=====================

  Are Macintosh software sales rising or falling? An important
  question, and one that guest writer Matt Deatherage examines in
  detail. Also this week, both Claris and Qualcomm update their
  email clients, FreePPP 2.5v3 appears, Info-Mac continues working
  on its move, the Crack A Mac challenge ends, and Adam marks the
  seventh anniversary of TidBITS.

Topics:
    MailBITS/14-Apr-97
    TidBITS 7.0
    Despite the Gloom, Mac Software Sales Up in 1995

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-375.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#375_14-Apr-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.1, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS Readers!
   Performa 6200 8MB/1GB/CD 15" monitor, refurbished: $979
   More Info: <http://www.smalldoggy.com/#tid> -- 802/496-7171

* StarNine Technologies -- 800/525-2580 -- <info@starnine.com>
   Top Internet tools: WebSTAR, WebCollage, ListSTAR, and more.
   Download your free demos now: <http://www.starnine.com/>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

MailBITS/14-Apr-97
------------------

**FreePPP 2.5v3 Patcher** -- Steve Dagley and the FreePPP Group
  have released a 36K patcher program that updates the FreePPP 2.5v2
  extension to 2.5v3. It fixes a nasty bug that has long been
  lurking in the original MacPPP code. In situations of heavy load,
  this bug could cause FreePPP to crash or hang. If you use FreePPP
  2.5v2, you should update your copy. [ACE]

<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/select/free-ppp-25v3-patch.hqx>


**Info-Mac Back Soon** -- Worrying about the return of Info-Mac?
  Fear not, Info-Mac will return - the moderators continue to work
  hard at correctly setting up all the important scripts and Unix
  details. All the files have been moved over from sumex-aim, and
  the new machine (a gift from AOL a few years ago), is officially
  set up and working at MIT. The hope is that Info-Mac will come
  online in the next week or so. Please don't submit new files to
  the archive until that time; some resubmissions will be necessary
  for files that arrived during the move. [ACE]


**Emailer 2.0 Available** -- Last week, Claris released Emailer
  2.0, sporting a revamped interface and a handful of new landmark
  features. The most important change is that Emailer now stores
  messages in database form (rather than as separate files) which
  greatly reduces disk space overhead in comparison to storing
  messages as individual files. Emailer's Mail Actions are more
  robust and offer extended filtering options, and Emailer now
  supports hierarchical File Cabinet folders. If you upgrade from an
  earlier version, ensure that your existing mail converts properly
  by reading the installation instructions carefully. Claris has
  posted a 4 MB trial version of Emailer 2.0. Claris -- 800/544-8554
  [JLC]

<http://www.claris.com/products/claris/emailer/site/>
<ftp://ftp.claris.com/pub/USA-Macintosh/Trial_Software/
ClarisEmailer2.0Trial.bin>


**Eudora 3.1 Available** -- Hot on the heels of the release of
  Claris Emailer 2.0, Qualcomm released version 3.1 of Eudora Light
  and Eudora Pro. The main new feature in both versions is a
  hierarchical Mailboxes window that provides a target for drag &
  drop of messages, quick access to mailboxes, and easy manipulation
  of your mailbox hierarchy. Eudora Pro 3.1 also features a toolbar
  that simplifies adding styled text to messages, support for
  displaying attached graphics within a message window, and
  "personalities." Personalities enable a single copy of Eudora Pro
  to send and receive mail on multiple Internet email accounts,
  which is ideal for those of us with lots of accounts. People who
  share a copy of Eudora Pro will still want to keep separate Eudora
  Folders with separately configured Eudora Settings files. The
  update for Eudora Pro is free, and Eudora Light remains completely
  free. The Eudora Pro updater is 1.7 MB, and Eudora Light 3.1 is 2
  MB. [ACE]

<http://www.eudora.com/>


**Crack Proof** -- In TidBITS-365_, we noted the two-month "Crack
  A Mac" challenge being held in Sweden, offering a cash prize to
  anyone able to change the contents of a Web page running on a
  standard Mac OS Web server. The prize money eventually rose to
  over U.S. $13,000, but no one claimed the prize by the contest
  deadline of 10-Apr-97 - though not for lack of trying! The
  challenge's coordinators have posted a summary of the contest
  results and various break-in attempts made on the contest server,
  including some clever (and amusing) social-engineering attempts to
  make the contest coordinators to change the Web page themselves.
  [GD]

<http://hacke.infinit.se/resumeng.html>


TidBITS 7.0
-----------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  This week marks the seventh year of TidBITS, making us serious
  Internet geezers. If you're new to TidBITS (and many of you are!)
  I thought I'd take a moment to note where TidBITS is on this
  anniversary. Back in April of 1990, Tonya and I released the first
  issue of TidBITS to the Internet in HyperCard format (a format
  that survived for 99 issues before being replaced by setext).
  Since then we've published on a weekly basis through several Apple
  CEOs (Sculley to Spindler to Amelio), numerous business cycles for
  Apple Computer, the release of more Macs than we can count, the
  arrival of Macintosh clones, the continuing ascendancy of the
  Internet, the hyping of Java, and the change in fortunes of
  industry luminaries like WordPerfect, Aldus, Borland, Ashton-Tate,
  and Lotus.

  You could argue that the world has changed completely since we
  began, and in many ways it has. Heck, even some of our April Fools
  jokes (such as in TidBITS-052_) have come true. But, just as
  everything continues to change at an increasingly fast pace,
  there's also a case to be made for everything staying much the
  same. Microsoft still calls many of the shots in the computer
  industry. Apple still gets bad press even when it's undeserved.
  The Mac OS is still the easiest operating system to learn and use.
  Macworld Expos are so similar that it's almost impossible to
  remember what happened at any given show.


**Some Numbers** -- Even TidBITS embodies this dichotomy (and
  we've never been afraid to use the occasional word that might
  require a trip to the dictionary - think of it as expanding
  horizons). Our format has stayed extremely consistent since the
  switch from HyperCard, and we've stuck within our informal limit
  of 30K of text per issue without fail (other than a few special
  issues). And yet, the number of people reading TidBITS continues
  to skyrocket. Our English-language mailing list (originally run
  thanks to the generosity of Rice University, and now run on a
  Power Mac 7100 and StarNine's ListSTAR) served about 19,000 people
  in April of 1995, 37,000 in April of 1996, and 46,000 today. In
  April of 1995, TidBITS went to 65 countries; today that number has
  hit 106, including a number of countries that weren't on the
  Internet two years ago (or weren't even countries). Want to help
  those numbers? Tell your friends they can subscribe to TidBITS,
  for free of course, by sending an email message to
  <tidbits-on@tidbits.com>.

  We've found it difficult to estimate the number of TidBITS
  readers, thanks to redistribution lists and popular areas like the
  comp.sys.mac.digest newsgroup, which can't be tracked well.
  Nonetheless, we've always committed to publishing in as many ways
  as made sense, so we'll continue to make issues available via
  email, FTP, Usenet news, and of course the Web. Check our Web site
  for the latest issue and links to every past issue of TidBITS.

<http://www.tidbits.com/>


**The Top Seven** -- Leading the pack in number of English-
  language subscribers in the country category are the United
  States, Canada, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and
  Sweden. The top seven Internet providers are AOL, EarthLink,
  CompuServe, Netcom, MindSpring, Northwest Nexus, and AT&T
  WorldNet. The top seven non-ISP companies (many others have
  internal distribution lists we can't track) are Apple, Motorola,
  Hughes Aircraft, Microsoft, DuPont, McDonnell Douglas, and
  Schlumberger. The top seven educational institutions are
  University of Minnesota, Stanford University, University of
  Michigan, Cornell University, University of Washington, University
  of Texas, and Harvard University.

  In my mind, our most impressive achievement is that we've
  published on a regular weekly schedule the entire time. In the
  early days, a weekly schedule and a shorter lead time than any
  paper publication put us on the edge of speedy computer
  journalism. These days, it's hard to avoid being inundated with
  poorly-written, poorly-researched daily news (though there are
  notable exceptions, like Matt Deatherage's MDJ and Ric Ford's
  MacInTouch). We try to do more than merely report the news, and
  instead try to offer some context or analysis so you can get a
  better sense of what it all means. And, sometimes we ignore events
  because we don't want to clutter your brains with useless
  information. I believe that's what sets a publication apart from a
  stream of raw data.

<http://www.gcsf.com/>
<http://www.macintouch.com/>


**Finances** -- I'm pleased that we've kept TidBITS completely
  free all these years. I won't pretend that TidBITS has made us
  rich, but we've never lost money (in fact, we made about $900
  million more than Apple last year, if you want to talk bottom
  line). Most of TidBITS's income comes from our sponsors, and it
  has enabled us to contract with Geoff Duncan and Jeff Carlson, our
  Technical and Managing Editors. Without their help, we'd never be
  able to keep up our schedule and quality, both of which are
  important to us. As much as TidBITS remains an idealistic venture,
  it must also remain a viable business.

  Interestingly, we started the sponsorship program back in July of
  1992, before the Web had appeared and years before advertising on
  the Internet was even acceptable, much less commonplace as it is
  today. Although a few of our early sponsors have been acquired or
  are no longer around, most current and past sponsors have proven
  to be the stalwarts of the Macintosh and Internet worlds. Among
  this group are (in order of appearance) Nisus Software, Dantz
  Development, APS Technologies, Northwest Nexus, PowerCity Online,
  Hayden Books, InfoSeek, Power Computing, America Online, EarthLink
  Network, Aladdin Systems, Small Dog Electronics, and our most
  recent sponsor, StarNine Technologies.

  Any Macintosh or Internet company that's interested in supporting
  a high-quality, free resource like TidBITS and reaching a few
  hundred thousand readers each week should contact Tonya at
  <tonya@tidbits.com> for more details. Who knows, one of these
  years Apple or Claris might even sponsor us.


**Translations** -- 1996 also marked the year in which TidBITS
  translations came into their own. The Japanese translation team
  has done a wonderful job since TidBITS-281_ (and has amassed their
  own mailing list of over 8,600 people), and the other five
  language teams (Chinese, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish)
  basically all appeared in 1996. Thanks to our early status as one
  of the few sources of timely information for readers in other
  countries, and our efforts to not ignore international concerns,
  being able to publish in six different languages has been a real
  treat. As always, if you're interested in helping the volunteer
  translation teams by translating an article every so often, check
  our Web site for the address of the appropriate coordinator. We're
  always happy to have more help with translations.

<http://www.tidbits.com/about/translations.html>


**Further Reading** -- If you're interested in TidBITS history,
  you might want to browse our past anniversary issues. Check out
  TidBITS-001_, TidBITS-120_, TidBITS-173_, TidBITS-222_ (the most
  detailed history so far), TidBITS-273_, and TidBITS-324_. We're
  proud of the fact that every single one of our issues is available
  online. Two conversions were necessary for that to be true. In
  1992, my sister Jennifer Engst converted the first 99 HyperCard
  issues into setext, and toward the end of 1996, our Contributing
  Editor Matt Neuburg converted the first 275 setext issues into
  HTML to flesh out our Web presence. Everything's available on our
  Web site, so feel free to browse.

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/>

  In the end, I feel that TidBITS is entering its prime (after a
  year of being divisible by two and three). There's no telling if
  we'll make it to the next prime number in four years, but we have
  no plans to stop.


Despite the Gloom, Mac Software Sales Up in 1995
------------------------------------------------
  by Matt Deatherage <mattd@gcsf.com>

  The press loves to quote numbers, especially when predicting the
  immediate demise of Apple Computer. However, the numbers the press
  uses are often less precise than they would have you believe. For
  instance, the Software Publishing Association (SPA) tracks
  software sales on a regular basis and reported last year that
  Macintosh software sales in 1995 were down roughly 14 percent.
  However, the SPA releases sales figures for a given year twice - a
  preliminary set about three months into the next year, and a final
  set a year later. That 14 percent drop came from preliminary
  figures for 1995; now that 1996 is over, the SPA has released the
  final numbers for 1995, which show that Macintosh software sales
  were in fact up 24 percent. Oops. Let's take a look at how the SPA
  gathers this information and what it all means.


**What is the SPA?** The recently released numbers come from the
  SPA's ongoing sales survey research effort. The SPA is a non-
  profit membership organization that works to advance recognition
  of key software industry issues with the government and business
  communities. Past SPA initiatives have included extensive anti-
  piracy efforts, lobbying for pro-software legislation in
  Washington D.C. (including efforts against tariffs and export
  controls and in favor of cryptography), and educational efforts
  like the "Cybersurfari" contests that help students learn about
  the Internet.

  As a trade group, the SPA's members are naturally interested in
  using the organization's resources to advance their business
  goals. To that end, the software surveys of SPA members exist
  (more or less) to convince the world that the software business is
  booming and is therefore a fertile ground for investment and
  career choices. Even with such a purpose, though, the SPA is not
  afraid to publish results that indicate bad times - for example,
  the last release in December showed an overall decline in software
  sales for the third calendar quarter of 1996, but the organization
  did put the best possible spin on their results, pointing out how
  sales the previous year were artificially high due to the
  introduction of Windows 95 and associated software.

  Companies participating in SPA surveys are asked to submit sales
  totals in seventeen categories, broken out by operating system.
  Submissions are due six weeks or so after the end of each quarter.
  The SPA then tabulates the results and distributes them to
  participating companies in large, detailed spreadsheets about
  three weeks later. Three to four weeks after that, the SPA
  announces the results to the press, although with far less detail
  than participating companies receive.

<http://www.spa.org/research/default.htm>


**Flawed Research** -- The system seems reasonable on the face of
  it, but it has flaws:

* Unknown sample size: The SPA says that SPA members are
  responsible for 85 percent of all North American software sales
  (and the numbers in this particular survey and article, by the
  way, are _only_ for U.S. and Canadian sales), but they refuse to
  disclose how many of those members participate in the voluntary
  sales surveys. If the responding companies represent significantly
  less than 85 percent of all software sales, the survey results are
  correspondingly less important.

* Restricted responses: Only SPA members can participate, and
  since dues start at $750 per year and go into the hundreds of
  thousands of dollars for the largest companies (depending on
  software revenues), many smaller developers - the kinds that
  traditionally do innovative Macintosh work - choose not to join,
  and are therefore ineligible to have their sales tabulated.

* Few uniform guidelines: The SPA tabulates data exactly as
  companies report it - so if those companies have little
  information on where their software goes, the SPA has just as
  little. Take the well-publicized case of hybrid CD-ROMs that
  contain Macintosh and Windows software. The SPA makes no attempt
  to figure this out, and they shouldn't have to. Instead, they rely
  on data from reporting member companies. If a software company
  ships 10,000 hybrid titles in a year but has no idea how many went
  to Mac users and how many went to Windows users, they'll either
  not report the sales or they'll estimate percentages. The SPA
  doesn't provide guidelines for collecting accurate information,
  and Apple executives have publicly speculated that many more
  hybrid CD-ROM sales should be counted as Mac OS sales than are
  reported that way. With the SPA's voluntary survey, there's no way
  to tell.


**Fast But Inaccurate** -- However, the biggest problem is that
  the results have, for the past several years, been shown by the
  SPA itself to be highly inaccurate. Some companies don't have the
  data the SPA wants by the deadline, so they don't turn it in. If
  they come up with it a month or two later, they'll submit it then,
  and the SPA will assimilate it into the results. Then, when the
  SPA needs numbers for the same period, the revised and ostensibly
  more accurate figures are used.

  It makes sense to use the most accurate information available,
  says the SPA. However, over the past few years, some figures
  available a year after initial reporting have been vastly
  different from the originally announced figures. The SPA then
  commits a sin of synchronization - they compare the fast-but-
  incomplete results (which I call "preliminary" numbers) to the
  year-old, far-more-complete figures I call "final" results.

  With few exceptions, the final results for Macintosh software
  sales have been higher - often significantly higher - than
  preliminary numbers. By comparing the preliminary numbers to the
  final numbers, the SPA is comparing apples to oranges, and they
  get percentage changes from one year to the next that can be
  invalid and highly misleading.


**1995: A Good Year** -- That's what we see with the results for
  software sales in 1995. Remember that the SPA releases numbers
  twice - preliminary figures about three months after the end of
  the year being discussed, and final numbers one year later as the
  basis for comparisons against the current year. We now have final
  1995 numbers because the SPA is using them as a base to see the
  differences in the preliminary 1996 numbers.

  Several of the SPA's seventeen categories showed little or no
  difference between the preliminary results and the final results,
  meaning the original reports were relatively representative - word
  processors, spreadsheets, databases, integrated software and
  presentation graphics were all revised by 4 percent or less.
  However, other categories saw major corrections. Sales of
  Macintosh utilities are now believed to be twice what the SPA
  reported a year ago, with similar gains in the Drawing & Painting,
  personal information management and home education categories.
  Overall, the SPA now believes that Macintosh software sales were
  44.2 percent higher for 1995 than originally reported.

  A year ago, when the SPA released preliminary 1995 results, they
  said Macintosh software sales were down 13.9 percent from 1994's
  final figures, meaning Macintosh software market share fell to 14
  percent from 18 percent in 1994. Now that final 1995 numbers are
  available, it turns out that Macintosh software sales for the year
  actually grew 24 percent in 1995.

  Unfortunately, Mac OS software still slipped to 15.5 percent
  market share. That's not because sales fell, but because Windows
  software sales grew faster - easy to understand during the year
  Windows 95 was released.


**1996: An Iffy Year** -- The recent announcement from the SPA
  compares preliminary 1996 numbers to the new, final 1995 numbers.
  The comparison shows what you'll read in the major press coverage
  of these results - a drop of 24 percent in sales for 1996.
  However, consider the following. What if we assume the under-
  reporting for 1996 will be similar to the under-reporting that
  took place in 1995? Perhaps, by comparing the two sets of
  preliminary numbers (an "apples to apples" comparison), we might
  find a better estimation of how things are really changing.

  Such a comparison shows yearly growth of about 11 percent instead
  of a decline of 24 percent. This is a lot easier to swallow. Other
  research I've done showed that Mac OS market share actually rose
  during the last part of 1996 (see TidBITS-369_), and it's hard to
  believe that computer sales were up while software sales for them
  were down. Historically, new computer sales have been a large
  driving force behind new software sales; new software, especially
  major software, is typically purchased only with new computers or
  when new versions are released.

  Interestingly enough, the SPA's preliminary and final numbers for
  1994, a year earlier, were close to each other - within about 3
  percent. If we try to average 1994 and 1995 differences to get a
  sense of how far the SPA's preliminary numbers might be off, we
  come up with the idea that preliminary numbers are about 21
  percent below final numbers. If we go with that idea, we could
  expect to see 1996 Macintosh software sales drop a bit as a 21
  percent margin of error doesn't quite match the 24 percent drop
  the SPA reports in its preliminary 1996 numbers. However, don't
  put too much faith in this "average error" approach - the two
  margins of error for 1994 and 1995 are very different, a good
  indication that any speculations based on their average may not
  mean (no pun intended) much.

  Past experience with the SPA's numbers and an understanding of the
  Mac OS market leads me to believe that the final numbers for 1996
  will eventually reveal a small increase in sales, but nothing like
  the large increases for Windows-based software. 1996 was a
  difficult year for Macintosh software and hardware developers
  alike, and though customers did eventually return to the platform
  in small but significant numbers, I think that 20 percent or 30
  percent gains would be unrealistic. It's more likely that the
  platform saw about 8 percent growth or less during the year. The
  hardware market showed similar moderate growth during 1996, and
  the "apples to apples" comparison of preliminary numbers is also
  in that ballpark. We won't know for sure until a year from now,
  when the SPA releases final numbers for 1996.


**Why Does the SPA Do This?** I spoke extensively on this matter
  last fall with SPA public relations director David Phelps, who
  confirmed my description of the process with research director Jim
  Sanders. Phelps vehemently insisted that the SPA was not anti-
  Macintosh and was, in fact, almost an entirely Mac OS shop - it's
  just that the numbers show declines, and they report them at the
  time with the best information they have available.

  The SPA certainly isn't trying to deceive people about the
  Macintosh specifically, but the organization does show a marked
  and lamentable tendency to put the value of its own numbers above
  the good of the developers they're supposed to serve. The
  discrepancies mentioned above also affect other SPA categories -
  Windows (both 16-bit and 32-bit) and DOS - but in those cases, the
  differences are of magnitude, not of sign. DOS sales in the final
  figures didn't fall as much, and Windows sales in the preliminary
  figures didn't rise as much as later information showed. Only the
  Macintosh sales actually change direction, going from an announced
  loss to a quiet gain. When the SPA's final figures are 150 percent
  to 200 percent of the originally reported figures, as is often the
  case here, the preliminary announcements become significantly
  misleading.

  This then is the SPA's problem. The group is determined to release
  the numbers on schedule, which invites these inaccurate and
  misleading reports. Requests that the SPA disclose how many member
  companies report, disclose the full results that reporting
  companies receive, and point out when revised figures make the
  original announcements invalid have all been rejected. There is
  only one crack in the armor - in this latest press release,
  touting how all application software sales topped $10 billion for
  the first time (although a year from now it will probably be
  significantly higher), the SPA said that the 1996 total was "an
  8.3 percent increase from a revised $9.8 billion in 1995" (let me
  emphasize "revised"). Last year at this time, the SPA said 1995's
  total was $7.53 billion - an error, again, of nearly 25 percent.

  The group appears afraid that if they point out how inaccurate
  their results are shown to be a year later, the press and public
  will stop paying attention to their cries that the software
  industry is healthy. But ironically, these same reports are making
  the Macintosh software market less healthy. Venture capitalists
  and other investors who read these results in the popular press
  will never hear about the corrections, or about the difference
  between "preliminary" and "final" numbers. The numbers keep going
  up and the SPA keeps announcing that sales are falling - if they
  were to point out the paradox in this proposition, they'd have to
  admit that they don't have accurate data three months after a year
  ends. They seem completely unwilling make that admission.

  There's always hope that this trend will change. After MDJ
  reported in January (reprinted in TidBITS-363_) that Mac OS
  hardware market share was flat to improving and noting how major
  research firms didn't bother to track Mac OS market share
  differently from Apple Computer's market share, some research
  firms started tracking Mac OS market share and the press was
  surprised to discover that it was growing. I'm not claiming cause
  and effect here, but the truth has a way of catching on once it
  escapes. The truth is that the Mac software market, while
  suffering through a bad year, has been significantly healthier
  than the SPA's preliminary numbers have indicated, and there is no
  reason to believe that situation has changed. Perhaps a different
  group will come along with scientifically sampled surveys that
  more accurately represent software sales, so the business
  community can accurately judge the validity of an investment in
  Mac OS technology.

  [This article is reprinted and updated with permission from MDJ, a
  daily Macintosh publication covering news, products, and events in
  the Macintosh world. If you can't get enough insightful Mac news,
  sign up for a trial subscription to MDJ. TidBITS readers who had a
  free trial before 01-Apr-97 are invited to accept another one and
  see how this publication has changed since its beta-test period
  last year. For more information, visit the MDJ Web site.]

<http://www.gcsf.com/>



$$

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TidBITS#376/21-Apr-97
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

  How will books and seminars change as the two fields meet online?
  Adam tackles this topic with a look his most recently completed
  project. In news this week, Apple posts a quarterly loss and cuts
  prices on some models, GoLive Systems releases a hot-looking HTML
  editor, and Jeremy Kezer updates his Control Strip Modules.
  Finishing off the issue, Tonya reviews Online Army Knife, a
  Macintosh spelling checker with a new attitude.

Topics:
    MailBITS/21-Apr-97
    DigitalThink and Electronic Courses
    Onward Online Soldier: OAK, the Essential Batch Spelling=7F Checker

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-376.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#376_21-Apr-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.1, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS Readers! <----- NEW!
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* StarNine Technologies -- 800/525-2580 -- <info@starnine.com>
   Top Internet tools: WebSTAR, WebCollage, ListSTAR, and more.
   Download your free demos now: <http://www.starnine.com/>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

MailBITS/21-Apr-97
------------------

**Apple Posts $708 Million Loss** -- As readers in the United
  States agonized over their tax forms last week, the folks at Apple
  found themselves staring at a $708 million quarterly loss, the
  second worst showing in Apple's history. The bulk of the loss
  comes from Apple's $375 million purchase of NeXT Software and a
  $155 million charge to cover "restructuring activities."

  Although the numbers sound intimidating, especially since the
  company's deep reserve pockets are now significantly shallower,
  the press hasn't jumped back on the "Apple is dead" bandwagon that
  keeps rolling along Infinite Loop. This may be due to several
  elements that support a gradual success of the company's
  restructuring plans: operating expenses were down $32 million from
  last quarter, and down $65 million from the same quarter last
  year; business sales climbed 35 percent over the first quarter;
  and PowerBook sales accounted for 22 percent of total revenue, up
  from 10 percent. [JLC]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q3/
970416.pr.rel.q297.html>


**Apple Price Cuts** -- Last week, Apple announced $200 price cuts
  on Performa 6360 and 6400-series computers, but (more
  significantly) cut some prices in the PowerBook 1400 line by more
  than 30 percent. A PowerBook 1400cs/117 system now starts at
  $1,700 ($300 more for one with a CD-ROM), with prices extending to
  $3,200 for a PowerBook 1400c/133. If you've been putting off
  buying a PowerBook and the 3400s are too expensive, it might be a
  good time to re-examine the PowerBook 1400. Meanwhile, rumors
  continue to circulate about the PowerBook 2400, a 4.2-pound
  subnotebook developed by Apple and IBM, but it still appears its
  availability in the U.S. will be quite limited. [GD]

<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/97/04/18/aapl_x000_3.html>


**GoLive Lives On** -- Last week, GoLive Systems shipped GoLive
  CyberStudio, currently at version 1.0.1. Although the $349
  suggested retail price puts CyberStudio out of reach for casual
  Web authors, it offers a promising WYSIWYG alternative for
  professional authors, especially those who create visually rich
  Web sites, frequently employ plug-ins, or would appreciate a
  built-in JavaScript editor with color syntax checking.

<http://www.golive.com/>

  CyberStudio retains the elegant look of its predecessor, GoLive
  Pro (see TidBITS-337_), and adds many important features. The
  Layout Grid tool enables users to create pixel-specific layouts.
  On the HTML side of things, these layouts turn out to be complex,
  fixed-size tables, but the grid is optional and sizable, so it's
  easy to create pages that don't impose a particular browser window
  size. Site management options that I spotted on a quick tour of
  the program included viewing site structure and checking for bad
  links, plus the ability to export to Apple's Meta-Content Format
  (see TidBITS-355_). I'm particularly taken with the fact that
  although you can type HTML in the Source view, you can also create
  tags using the menus and toolbar, just as you would in Layout
  view, a seemingly obvious feature that other WYSIWYG HTML editors
  have failed to implement.

  According to GoLive Systems, CyberStudio can simultaneously
  support multiple language sets. The company has near-term plans to
  ship localized international versions, including Japanese and
  German. To run the software, you'll need to meet somewhat hefty
  system requirements - a PowerPC-based computer running System
  7.5.5 or later and at least 8 MB free RAM, with 16 MB recommended.
  A thirty-day trial version is available; the download is about 4
  MB. Upgrades from golive and golive pro cost $249. GoLive Systems
  415/463-1580 -- 415/563-1598 -- <info@golive.com> [TJE]


**Jeremy's CSM Updated** -- Jeremy Kezer has released version
  1.6.4 of Jeremy's Control Strip Modules, a $10 shareware
  collection of tiny, helpful tools. These tools consist of both new
  and replacement control strip modules for Apple's Control Strip,
  that ubiquitous utility that made its debut on PowerBooks a few
  years ago and is now available for desktop computers as well.
  Although many of Jeremy's modules are useful only on PowerBooks
  (including a revised temperature module that better keeps track of
  the computer and battery temperatures, plus a module that predicts
  how much battery time remains) version 1.6.4 also offers a revised
  AppleTalk module that improves handling of File Sharing, an easy
  pop-up menu of Open Transport TCP/IP configurations, and an
  improved speaker volume control. [MHA]

<http://members.aol.com/jbkezer/shareware.html>


DigitalThink and Electronic Courses
-----------------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  As most of you probably know, along with TidBITS, I also earn a
  living writing books, the best known of which is Internet Starter
  Kit for Macintosh. What's ironic for me as an Internet book author
  is that the Internet I've helped to popularize has seriously
  altered the market for computer books. Books are sold online,
  books are advertised online, and some books are even published
  online in their entirety.

  One of the reactions to these changes has been for people to
  rethink the purpose and marketing of books. Many computer books
  are essentially tutorials - they purport to teach a set of skills,
  ranging from how to achieve certain effects in Photoshop to how to
  find things on the Internet. Book-based tutorials go beyond the
  computer field though. What are most cookbooks or gardening books,
  if not tutorials on how to perform certain tasks? And, might there
  be better ways of publishing tutorials, perhaps using the
  Internet?

  Some companies are taking the kind of tutorial content you'd find
  in a book and turning it into an interactive electronic course. Of
  these, I'm most familiar with a small San Francisco startup called
  DigitalThink, because they've adopted an interesting way of
  differentiating their content. They don't have just anyone write a
  course - they specifically look for best-selling authors who have
  proven that they know the subject matter and how to explain it.

<http://www.digitalthink.com/>

  I recently spent a few months creating an interactive electronic
  course called "Living with the Internet" for DigitalThink.
  Obviously, since the course is delivered over the Internet, it
  assumes you're already connected and have a basic grasp of using a
  Web browser. However, there's a lot more to using the Internet
  than the essentials of a specific program, and that's the focus of
  my course. I have high hopes for DigitalThink, because I think
  they're on to something genuinely useful and new. If you're
  interested in online learning and interactive courses, read on for
  details on how it all works.


**Course Makeup** -- I said before that these courses were
  interactive, and I think that's an important requirement for them
  to succeed. Just putting a set of steps to follow on a Web page
  has not only been done, it's pretty much uninteresting. Instead,
  DigitalThink has come up with a number of systems for introducing
  interactivity into a course. Students are meant to interact not
  only with DigitalThink's server, but also with others enrolled in
  the class and the instructors.

  A DigitalThink course consists of five or six broad modules, each
  of which in turn holds between six and twenty lessons. Each lesson
  has a goal (DigitalThink's research showed that people liked
  having goals). Lessons also contain the lesson text, which is
  generally short since people don't like reading much online, and
  optional sidebars for related information, exercises, discussions,
  chats, and quizzes. These final elements provide the interactivity
  needed to give the online course some pizzazz.


**Lesson Text** -- The most challenging part of writing the course
  was keeping the amount of text I wrote to a minimum. Tali Bray, my
  producer, initially recommended that I aim for about 400 words per
  lesson, but when that proved unworkable with the conceptual size
  of my topics, we worked on moving lesson portions into sidebars to
  include the information in a less imposing setting. Tali's overall
  goal was help me to distill the necessary information into its
  most fundamental form, since that's what online training has to
  deliver, especially in contrast to books.

  DigitalThink addresses the issue of limiting online lesson text to
  fundamentals in other ways as well, by having required book-based
  reading for many of the courses and by encouraging interaction
  between students and between the instructor and the students.


**Exercises** -- Another part of writing each lesson involved
  coming up with an exercise. Some exercises are as simple as asking
  students to visit a couple of Web pages, read their contents, and
  think about the implications. Others are more complex (for
  instance, requiring students to rate the Internet programs they
  currently use so the scores can be compared with overall ratings
  from other students.)

  I had fun with some of the exercises - there's nothing that says a
  course has to be boring. For the lesson that explains
  client/server computing, there's an optional exercise that entails
  going out to dinner with a friend. And then, when I discuss how
  email actually works on the Internet, the exercise involves the
  use of small children, assuming you have access to any.


**Quizzes** -- Courses generally need some form of testing.
  Students submit answers to some of the exercises, but the main way
  that DigitalThink's electronic courses test knowledge is via
  quizzes. Most of them are multiple choice, although true/false
  questions also pop up from time to time. Once a student submits a
  quiz, DigitalThink's server shows which questions were answered
  right or wrong, and explains the answers, sometimes providing
  additional information in the process. Whenever you're in a
  course, you can click the Scores button to see a graph of your
  total quiz scores next to everyone else who has taken the class.


**Discussions and Chats** -- Exercises and quizzes force you to
  interact with DigitalThink's server, and although that's a good
  first step in providing a compelling interactive experience,
  there's no substitute for live people. Because of that, most
  lessons have a discussion, and each module has at least one live
  chat scheduled. The discussions work a bit like Usenet news, with
  messages posted one after another. Online chats use the iChat
  plug-in.

  As the author, I show up for a few hours a month in the course,
  participating in the discussions and perhaps an occasional chat,
  although I generally avoid online chats because they're hard on my
  hands. I seeded each discussion with an initial post, and each
  lesson also has questions for students to consider. Along with
  everything else, I'm trying to help people think about the
  Internet and the issues that surround it.

  Whether in the discussion forum or the online chats,
  DigitalThink's hope is that encouraging students to interact with
  one another and with the instructor will not only make the course
  more fun, but will also make it more instructive. Some recent
  research has shown that the interactivity involved in online
  instruction can make it even more successful than traditional
  classroom instruction.

<http://www.csun.edu/sociology/virexp.htm>


**The Overall System** -- DigitalThink's technology for providing
  these courses goes well beyond basic HTML. I don't know all the
  details, but I do know that they have developed a proprietary
  system that tracks all the parts of a course and all the students.
  That's how it can grade quizzes instantly and update scores
  immediately. Students can also click the Classmates button
  whenever they're in a course to see who else is taking it. As a
  nice touch, though, DigitalThink gives each student a special
  DigitalThink email address that forwards to the student's real
  address. That way, students can contact each other, but still
  maintain a level of privacy.

  The unfortunate side-effect of this mechanism is that it relies on
  JavaScript for the course syllabus and discussions, and currently
  Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 for the Mac doesn't support
  JavaScript (although Explorer 3.0.1b1 just added JavaScript
  support; see TidBITS-373_). Other technical requirements include
  the Shockwave plug-in if you want to listen to my dulcet tones at
  various points throughout the course, and the iChat plug-in that's
  necessary to participate in chats.

  Students' personal information is maintained in their lockers,
  which contain information about their courses and any other
  information they wish to give out. For instance, my Bio field
  reads merely "Carbon-based." After you've enrolled in a course,
  you go to your locker every time you revisit the DigitalThink site
  to continue with the course.

  As I understand it, DigitalThink is hoping to meet the needs of
  people and companies who can afford a one- or two-day seminar but
  don't have several days to devote to full-time instruction.
  Courses are designed to take about 25 hours to complete, and
  students can spread that out over time, working as quickly or
  slowly as they want, within reason.


**Courses** -- Currently, DigitalThink offers a number of courses
  in the three main categories of Internet, Computer Science, and
  Multimedia. Some titles include: Object-Oriented Programming with
  C++, Home Sweet Home Page, Advanced Perl for the Web (part of the
  Perl for Programmers Series), Building Graphical User Interfaces
  (part of the Java for Programmers Series), and Hands-On Photoshop.

<http://www.digitalthink.com/catalog/>

  DigitalThink has two new sections which should be available by the
  end of April, Finance and Lifestyles. As you'd expect, Finance
  covers personal finance software, investments, and so on. I'm
  looking forward to the Lifestyles section, which will have
  subjects that aren't work-related, such as wine-tasting. That
  should prove interesting, although quizzes might become
  significantly more difficult if you don't spit during the tasting
  exercises.

  Course fees vary widely, depending on the type of course and its
  length. Introductory courses are only $45, but the range goes up
  to $275 for the full-length, advanced Computer Science courses.

  If you like going to seminars and taking short classes, check out
  the DigitalThink Web site and the course offerings, especially
  Tali's free course on searching on the Internet. I enjoyed
  creating the "Living with the Internet" course more than my major
  book projects thanks to the way it helped me rethink the way I
  explain the Internet. If that's true of the other DigitalThink
  authors too, I can only assume that their courses will have
  benefited as well. Who knows, these sort of electronic courses may
  be the future of certain types of computer books.


Onward Online Soldier: OAK, the Essential Batch Spelling Checker
----------------------------------------------------------------
  by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>

  Late last year, I reviewed Casady & Greene's Spell Catcher, a
  handy utility that helps with spelling and other writing tasks
  (see TidBITS-353_). I was particularly taken with the fact that I
  could set up its user dictionary and Interactive Checking glossary
  once, and then use them in any program - words I taught the user
  dictionary while in my word processor would also be understood
  when I spell checked an email message. At the time, I promised to
  review other, similar utilities, and the next one up is Online
  Army Knife 1.21 (OAK) by JEM Software.

<http://www.casadyg.com/C&G/Products/SpellCatcher/description.html>
<http://arielpub.com/jem.html>

  OAK aims to provide spell checking and other services to Internet
  users, particularly in Internet-related programs like email
  clients or HTML editors that lack adequate spell checking
  features. Additionally, in Swiss-Army Knife-style, OAK piles on
  additional features: grammar checking, playing a QuickTime movie,
  opening GIF, PICT, or JPEG graphics (and optionally converting
  them to a variety of formats including EPS and TIFF), opening and
  converting among WAV, SND, and AIFF sounds (plus a basic sound
  recording feature), encrypting text (encrypted text can be
  decrypted by anyone owning OAK or the OAK decrypter), and removing
  high-ASCII characters like curly quotes that can be messed up when
  sent over the Internet.

  I won't deny the potential uses of any of these features, but OAK
  put itself on my list of must-have utilities after I experienced
  its most important feature - batch spell checking (a feature Adam
  suggested in part to JEM Software after he grew tired of linear-
  mode spell checkers).

  OAK is a control panel and an application, so after installing it,
  I put an alias to the OAK application in my Startup Folder. OAK
  launches as a small window containing eight buttons. Press a
  button, and you'll see a short list of options relating to the
  button. You can hide OAK just like any other application, so it's
  easy to hide if screen real estate gets tight.


**The Basic Batch Check** -- At a basic level, OAK performs its
  spell checking via the Spelling button. Press it, and you may
  choose to check the contents of the clipboard or a file. (You can
  also spur the spelling checker into action by selecting text in
  any program and issuing a configurable keyboard shortcut.) OAK
  responds by listing possible errors in the Batch Processing dialog
  box. If a mistake occurs more than once, OAK only lists it once.

  I've found this list to be a great convenience. To process the
  list of possible errors, I first select words I want ignored, and
  then I click the Ignore button (the Ignore option can be set to
  work until you quit OAK). Second, I select words I want learned
  and click the Learn button. Finally, I select the remaining words
  and click the Correct in Context button. This button leads to a
  more traditional spell checking window, which can be driven
  completely from the keyboard. There's also a button for starting a
  Grammar Check or checking for doubled words.

  To measure speed, I batch-checked a recent TidBITS issue. It took
  OAK a hair more than a second to list 24 unknown words out of 4561
  total on my Power Mac 7600 (120 MHz PowerPC 604) and almost ten
  seconds to complete the same task on my Duo 230 (25 MHz 68030).
  According to JEM Software, OAK can check as large a file as you
  have memory available.

  The batch checking is great, so great that I intend to keep OAK
  installed just to use it with Eudora and other instances where I
  work with unformatted text. Unfortunately, OAK won't replace Spell
  Catcher in my software collection. When OAK pastes text into a
  document after a spelling check, styles and formatting tend to
  disappear. In my testing, serious loss-of-formatting problems
  arose after an OAK spell check in Word 5.1, Nisus 4.1 and 5.0,
  WriteNow 3.0, and WordPerfect 3.5. However, OAK and Word 6.0 got
  along well for the styles and formats I tested. JEM Software may
  add Word Services support to a future OAK version, which might
  help avoid this problem.


**The Interactive Zone** -- Beyond basic batch checking, OAK
  offers interactive checking features galore, including a real-time
  spelling checker that doesn't suffer formatting problems, so you
  can use it with most programs. Turn on the Real-Time option and
  OAK puts up a tiny Unknowns & Suggestions windoid that floats over
  application windows. If you type a word OAK doesn't understand,
  OAK (optionally) plays a sound or flashes the menubar. The sound
  or flash is your cue to look in the Unknowns & Suggestions
  windoid, which contains two lists. The left-hand list shows words
  you've typed that OAK considers misspelled. When you click an
  alleged error, OAK displays suggestions on the right. If you deal
  with the error right away, you can simply tell OAK to skip,
  ignore, or learn the word, or you can choose a suggested fix. You
  can even click the Glossary button so the next time you make that
  mistake, OAK automatically replaces it with the correction. You
  can also deal with errors later - OAK stores them in a list in the
  windoid. I don't like dealing with errors later because all OAK
  can do is paste corrections into your document at the location of
  the cursor, not over the mistake.

  If you turn on the appropriate options, OAK can instantly
  uppercase letters accidently left lowercased and instantly fix
  accidental character transpositions (i.e. incorrectly spelling
  "Apple" as "Appel").

  Although the batch checker ignores email addresses and Web URLs,
  the real-time checker flags pieces of them that it doesn't
  understand. (I had to teach it the likes of www and com.) This
  trait is particularly annoying in Web browsers. Future versions of
  OAK should feature an interface for turning OAK off in
  applications where it's not wanted.

  There's also a glossary for storing commonly used blocks of text,
  and it's easy to edit the glossary or add additional entries. For
  example, I used the glossary to make it so every time I typed
  "ti", OAK expanded my typing to "TidBITS." I also used it for my
  standard email signoff, long company or product names, and my
  snail mail address. The glossary does not come preconfigured with
  entries for common typos and their corrections, but it's easy to
  generate a custom set of typos quickly if you pay attention and
  use the Glossary button in the Unknowns & Suggestions windoid.
  Also, the folks at JEM Software have pointed out that the
  transposition fixer eliminates many common typos.


**A Kajillion More Features** -- OAK has additional features that
  you might expect, like one that stores keystrokes so you can
  rescue data in the event of a crash, and features that you might
  not expect, such as one that helps you complete crossword puzzles
  and another that enables you to launch programs with a keyboard
  shortcut and set up a schedule for your Mac to launch programs on
  its own automatically.

  There's also a grammar checker that will be mainly of use to
  people having trouble with common usage rules. Most grammar
  checkers offer a haystack of inappropriate suggestions, making it
  hard to focus on the few needles that point to important problems.
  OAK's grammar checker flags words in a document that match its
  list of 25 commonly confused word pairs (pairs range from simple
  ones like "your" and "you're" to the less common "stationery" and
  "stationary"). When OAK flags a word, it notes a possible error
  and gives information about proper usage for each word in the
  pair, often with a tip for remembering the information. You can
  keep your word choice or exchange it for the other word in the
  pair. You can easily remove pairs from the grammar checker or add
  your own.

  Additionally, Online Army Knife comes with MemoEdit, a text editor
  intended to replace Simple Text for basic text editing needs. On
  top of SimpleText's basic functionality, it has a simple Find and
  Replace command and a sleek color selector (for coloring text)
  where you wave your mouse around on a multi-colored field, and
  watch the RGB numbers posted beneath the field update
  correspondingly.


**Spell Catcher Comparison** -- I used Spell Catcher for about
  three months before switching to OAK for this review. My main
  frustration with Spell Catcher was that it has no clue about URLs,
  a problem that OAK's batch checker does not share. Another issue
  was that Spell Catcher's Interactive Checking performance was
  noticeably slow in ClarisWorks 4.04 and NisusWriter 4.1; OAK is a
  snappy performer and did not experience slowdowns with those
  programs. Further, I found it hard to recommend Spell Catcher for
  use on machines slower than my Duo 230. OAK's Real-Time spelling
  checker is a little slower to suggest replacements on the Duo, but
  overall performance is fine.

  Spell Catcher has been tweaked over the years to focus on the
  needs of writers and match many different writing styles (and the
  latest release, version 1.5.7, includes a few additional tweaks).
  It curls straight quotes, eliminates double spaces, and comes with
  a glossary that automatically corrects 1,000+ typos. Unlike OAK's
  all-or-nothing approach, these features start turned off and you
  turn them on as needed on a per-application basis. It comes with a
  thesaurus, but not a grammar checker. Spell Catcher's Ghostwriter
  feature helpfully organizes saved keystrokes by day and
  application. Also, it comes with numerous dictionary options for
  different languages and professions; OAK only supports American-
  English speaking Internet users. Both programs have useful manuals
  that read as though real people wrote them; OAK's is a bit more
  casual and personal.

  OAK is a young, enthusiastic program with new ideas. Don't try its
  batch checker unless you plan to keep OAK installed, because once
  you've tried it, there's no going back to the clunky, linear
  method of spell checking. Another big difference between OAK and
  Spell Catcher is that OAK's glossary accepts far longer entries
  than Spell Catcher's somewhat grudging 255 characters. And, of
  course, OAK comes with tons of other frills and utilities that add
  to its overall value.

  According to JEM Software OAK works with any Macintosh running
  System 7.1 or later and requires 1 MB of available RAM to run its
  core spelling and grammar checking features. A full installation
  takes about 4.5 MB of disk space. The suggested retail price is
  $128; direct orders placed before 01-Jul-97 cost $69.95. Spell
  Catcher/Thunder 7 owners can crossgrade for $49.95 (and the OAK
  glossary can import a Spell Catcher/Thunder 7 glossary), and
  owners of several other competitors can crossgrade for $59.95. A
  seven-day demo is available on JEM's Web site; the download is
  sized at about 1 MB.

    JEM Software -- 800/335-0935 (orders through Ariel Publishing)
      <jemsoftware@kitchen-sink.com> -- 303/422-4856 (fax)


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 -------------------------------------------------------------------

TidBITS#377/28-Apr-97
=====================

  Is Apple getting a bad rap from journalists, or is it just a
  conspiracy cooked up by Apple management? This week, Keith
  Brindley offers a journalist's view on how Apple contributes to
  its own bad press. Also this week, Adam shares some techniques for
  enhancing the usability of Web browsers, Apple releases a fix for
  disabled Level 2 caches, the Info-Mac archive comes back online,
  we ask a favor of folks redistributing TidBITS issues, and we
  introduce MacWorks as a new TidBITS sponsor.

Topics:
    MailBITS/28-Apr-97
    Sex Wax Your Browser
    Apple's Bad Press Relations

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-377.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#377_28-Apr-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/> <-- NEW!
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.3, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS Readers!
   Performa 6220 16MB/1GB/CD/TV/VI14" Monitor, refurbished: $954
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* StarNine Technologies -- 800/525-2580 -- <info@starnine.com> <----- NEW!
   Top Internet tools: WebSTAR, WebCollage, ListSTAR, and more.
   WebCollage is shipping! <http://www.starnine.com/webcollage/>

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MailBITS/28-Apr-97
------------------

**MacWorks Sponsoring TidBITS** -- We'd like to welcome our new
  sponsor, MacWorks. Self-billed as "Macintosh enthusiasts with a
  great sense of humor," MacWorks has a store in Lenexa, Kansas, and
  also sells products (primarily hardware) to Macintosh users near
  and far. We've been satisfied MacWorks customers on several
  occasions, and we have a good deal of experience with them because
  they essentially acted as an anchor for the DealBITS mailing list,
  which we ran in 1995 and 1996. We found them an all-around good
  company to work with: DealBITS readers liked them, they turned in
  well-written copy on time, and they paid their bills promptly.
  It's a long way to Kansas for most of you, but anyone with a
  browser can visit them virtually on the Web. If you do stop by
  their Web site, check out "Hey, Stuff This!" a regularly updated
  "MacBiased" cartoon drawn by Pete Steinfeld, a MacWorks staff
  member. [TJE]

<http://www.macworks.com/>


**Apple's Level 2 Cache Fix** -- Last week, Apple released the
  54xx/64xx L2 Cache Reset extension, fixing a bug that disabled the
  Level 2 processor cache in machines using Apple's "Alchemy"
  motherboard design. This includes Power Macintosh or Performa
  6360, 5400-series, and 6400-series computers, Power Computing's
  PowerBase series, and UMAX C500 and C600 models. In case you're
  wondering, Level 2 cache is a bit of high-speed memory - usually
  256K to 1 MB - that lives near the PowerPC processor. The CPU uses
  it to cache instructions and data for quick retrieval rather than
  returning to the (comparatively slow) RAM and disk systems to get
  the same information over and over again.

  You need this update if you use one of the above machines _and_
  you're running Mac OS 7.6.1, or System 7.5.3 and the 54xx/64xx
  Update 1.1 extension. The update re-enables Level 2 caches on the
  systems, producing speed gains of as much as 30 percent in some
  circumstances. Although this patch is a tiny disk image file
  (11K), you'll need Apple's DiskCopy 6.1 (about 500K) to mount the
  image and drag the extension to your System folder. [JLC]

<ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/
Macintosh/System/Mac_OS_7.6.1_Update/54xx-64xx_L2_Cache_Reset.img.hqx>
<ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/
Macintosh/Utilities/Disk_Copy_6.1.2.sea.hqx>


**Info-Mac Back Online** -- After a longer-than-expected hiatus,
  the Info-Mac archive is up and running at its new home. Unlike the
  old sumex-aim archive, the new Info-Mac location is not available
  for anonymous FTP; instead, Info-Mac users need to access the
  archive using one of the dozens of mirror sites around the world
  (including the Info-Mac HyperArchive at MIT, AOL's Info-Mac
  mirror, the selective mirror of the Info-Mac comm directory
  maintained on TidBITS' FTP site, among many others).

<http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html>
<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/select/>

  The Info-Mac Digest has resumed mailing and posts to the
  <comp.sys.mac.digest> newsgroup, and the Info-Mac moderators have
  worked their way through most of the backlog of new file
  submissions. If you need information about the Info-Mac archive or
  mailing list, check out their Web site (most of which has been
  updated to reflect Info-Mac's new home). Special thanks go to the
  assiduous efforts of all-volunteer Info-Mac moderators for making
  this substantial transition as painless as possible. [GD]

<http://www.pht.com/info-mac/>


**Cyberdog 2.0** -- Apple recently released version 2.0 of
  Cyberdog, its OpenDoc-based set of Internet tools. This is the
  version that's expected to ship with Mac OS 8 this July, and it
  features improved HTML support and performance (especially with
  Web pages and email handling), the ability to handle multiple
  email accounts, and Cyberdog DocBuilder for making custom Internet
  front-ends. Cyberdog 2.0 continues to offer OpenDoc and Finder
  integration, support for Web browser plug-ins and Apple's
  Macintosh Runtime for Java, plus strong (and often overlooked)
  AppleTalk network support. Cyberdog 2.0 requires a 68030 processor
  or better, System 7.5.3 or higher, a minimum of 8 MB of RAM, and
  the recently-released OpenDoc 1.2. [GD]

<http://cyberdog.apple.com/>
<http://opendoc.apple.com/>


**Do You Re-distribute TidBITS?** Each week, a number of people
  receive TidBITS issues that are redistributed via private mailing
  lists or online forums, rather than via direct email
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  order to make the mail errors stop, and that can inconvenience a
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  happening more and more often.

  So, if you're _in_charge_ of a mailing list, online forum, or
  other service that redistributes TidBITS each week, please contact
  Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com> with the following information:

* The email address of the redistribution service that's
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* The name and email address of the person to contact if there are
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* The approximate number of people who use the service or receive
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  This information will be held in the strictest confidence (as is
  the entire TidBITS subscription list!); the idea is to let us
  gracefully handle any problems that might arise without
  interrupting anyone's access to TidBITS. Thanks! [GD]


Sex Wax Your Browser
--------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  Like many of you, I spend a lot of time in my Web browser each
  day. In my case, I'm researching topics for TidBITS, following
  URLs sent to me in email, or perhaps working on a book project.
  I've been known to fill up Internet Explorer's 500-site default
  history file in a few days (it's now set to 2,000). In short, I
  stress Web browsers. I want them to be as fast and fluid as
  possible, within the constraints of my 56 Kbps dedicated Internet
  connection. Actually, I'd like them to read my mind, but that
  could get kind of creepy given the nature of the main Web browser
  companies. Over time, I've developed some ways of working that
  make using a Web browser easier and faster - perhaps some of them
  will be of use to you as well.


**Shortcuts 'R' Us** -- I'm on a mission to tell people about a
  neat little shortcut in the latest versions of both Netscape
  Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Most company Web sites
  have the domain name www.company.com, where "company" is the name
  of the company. In both of the main Web browsers, if you type just
  the name of the company in either the Address/Location field or
  the Open Location dialog box, the Web browser will guess at
  "www.company.com" for you. (And don't forget that you don't ever
  have to type in "http://" to go to a Web site.) Since I spend a
  lot of time hitting sites for companies like Apple, Microsoft,
  Netscape, Claris, Adobe, Symantec, and so on, I've found this to
  be a tremendous time-saver over trying to edit the existing URL
  showing in the Address/Location field or typing the full domain
  name. For some reason, it even feels faster to me than creating a
  bookmark. Netscape Navigator currently takes this feature one step
  further than Internet Explorer: using Navigator, you can use just
  a company name along with the remainder of a URL path, so just
  typing "tidbits/tb-issues" in Navigator's Location field is
  equivalent to:

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/>


**He Who Dies with the Most Buttons Wins** -- The left button on
  my venerable Kensington TurboMouse 4.0 stopped working recently,
  and I took the opportunity to buy a new TurboMouse 5.0, which has,
  count 'em, four buttons. With the associated MouseWorks software,
  you can define those buttons to do almost anything in any program.
  The programs I've concentrated on so far are my Web browsers,
  since I find that I tend to do the same things in almost all Web
  pages. I click the Back button a lot, and I scroll up and down in
  pages that don't fit on screen. So, I've defined the top two
  buttons to Scroll Previous and Scroll Next, and the lower-right
  button to Back (it actually types the Command-[ keystroke). I
  can't tell you how much smoother browsing the Web feels when you
  have single-button access to those functions. I've always liked
  Kensington's input devices - if you spend a lot of time in a Web
  browser, that may be enough of an excuse for you to think about
  getting a multiple button mouse or trackball.

<http://www.kensington.com/>


**ShrinkWrap the Web** -- One technique I've started using
  recently to improve the speed of my Web browsers (this works for
  both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer) relies on
  Aladdin's ShrinkWrap 2.1, written by Chad Magendanz (watch for
  version 3.0 soon, with some neat new features). Web browsers all
  use cache folders to store Web pages you've visited and display
  them again quickly if you revisit the site. Reading files from the
  hard disk, though faster than bringing them in over the Internet,
  isn't as fast as many of us would like. What if you could have the
  Web browser store the pages on a RAM disk instead? That would be
  significantly faster and would have the added advantage of keeping
  all those cache files off your hard disk, where they're just
  clutter. Even better, since off-loading the cache files to a RAM
  disk reduces the number of writes to your hard disk, disk
  corruption is less likely to occur if you crash while a cache file
  is being written, for instance.

<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/disk/shrink-wrap-21.hqx>

  I first tried using the RAM disk capabilities available from the
  Memory control panel, but the standard RAM disk didn't work well.
  It loses its contents if you shut down the Mac, and it can also
  forget its name, which screws everything up. So, and I don't know
  who first suggested trying this, I turned to ShrinkWrap, which can
  mount a disk image in RAM, essentially creating a persistent RAM
  disk.

  Although not difficult, the process isn't inherently obvious.
  Launch ShrinkWrap and open the Preferences dialog. Make sure "Keep
  mounted images in RAM" and "Mount images unlocked by default" are
  checked, since you want to take advantage of the speed of RAM and
  the Web browser must be able to write to the image. Make sure that
  the "Save disk image files as" pop-up menus are set to "ShrinkWrap
  Image File" (or else ShrinkWrap won't mount them automatically).
  Then, from the Image menu, choose New Image, name the disk image,
  click the Other button, and enter the size you want.

  If you've got enough RAM, I recommend about 5 MB. The Web browsers
  won't use all that space (since they know they shouldn't fill up
  the hard disk). There's not much advantage to using a larger cache
  folder setting unless you frequently visit Web sites that use
  Shockwave Director heavily. You want your Web browser to check
  pages once per session, because otherwise you'll miss changes, so
  it's unlikely that storing any more than a few megabytes of cache
  files will help performance.

  When you click the OK button, ShrinkWrap creates an image file (on
  the desktop by default). If you double-click that image file,
  ShrinkWrap mounts it as a volume. Next, you must set your Web
  browser to use the ShrinkWrap volume for cache files.

  In Microsoft Internet Explorer, open the Preferences dialog from
  the Edit menu, and click the Advanced tab. Make sure the Cache
  settings are set to a maximum of 5 MB, and click the Change button
  to locate your newly created ShrinkWrap volume. You may wish to
  click the Empty button to delete all the previously cached files
  before changing over to the ShrinkWrap volume, just to recover
  some space.

  In Netscape Navigator, from the Options menu choose Network
  Preferences. Click the Cache tab, set the Cache Size to 5 MB or
  so, and click the Browse button to locate your new ShrinkWrap
  volume. Again, you may wish to click the Clear Disk Cache Now
  button before switching to recover the space that's being used.

  Once you've got your Web browser set to use the ShrinkWrap volume,
  you need to make sure that it will be present whenever you launch
  your Web browser. Otherwise, the Web browser will reset itself to
  use some other folder. (Internet Explorer is a bit messy about
  this, placing the Explorer Cache folder in a variety of places.
  Netscape Navigator always seems to go back to the Cache folder in
  the boot volume's Netscape folder, located in the Preferences
  folder.) So, move the ShrinkWrap disk image file (not the mounted
  volume!) to your Startup Items folder so that ShrinkWrap mounts it
  on every restart.

  One slight problem that I had is that you can't put an alias to a
  Web browser in your Startup Items folder because it will launch
  before ShrinkWrap has finished mounting the volume. You might be
  able to get around this with creative naming to force certain load
  orders, depending on your specific situation, but another solution
  could be to use Exta Software's $8 shareware Delayed Startup Items
  utility, which waits until your Mac is idle for a few moments and
  then launches items in a Delayed Startup Items folder.

<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/cfg/delayed-startup-items.hqx>

  If you ever launch your Web browser when the ShrinkWrap volume
  isn't mounted (say, if you boot without extensions and then drop
  an HTML file on your Web browser to view it), be aware that the
  Web browser may reset its cache folder to another volume. It's
  worth checking every now and then to make sure this hasn't
  happened accidentally.

  Once you do this, you can enjoy the added speed of reading cached
  Web pages from a RAM disk and the peace of mind of knowing that
  you're keeping hundreds of unnecessary files off your hard disk.


Apple's Bad Press Relations
---------------------------
  by Keith Brindley <keith@brindley.demon.co.uk>

  When I read Ian Gregson's piece about his experiences with
  Macintosh retail sales (see TidBITS-367_), I was amazed at how
  much it mirrors the situation here in the U.K. I also anticipated
  Apple would begin complaining about the attitudes of retail stores
  rather than changing the way Macs are sold through these outlets.
  After all, Apple's usual line of defence in such matters is to
  attack the attacker. I know about this stance - I'm a journalist
  and I've suffered the slings and arrows of Apple's misfortune (not
  personally, but as part of my profession). To mix metaphors, Apple
  has long blamed the messenger for its own woes. Apple's main
  stance is to blame bad press as the reason why sales are low at
  Christmas, or why the quarter's loss is greater than expected
  (sound familiar?).

  But blaming the press is only half of the story, and there is
  another half. What about us journalists; what do we feel? We're a
  pretty apathetic bunch, after all (and, as you'll see, that's an
  inherent part of the problem), slothful in the extreme, drunkards
  in the main, quick to go with the mainstream, slow to try
  something new and potentially better, only looking for a free
  lunch and the pay cheque at the end of the month. At least that's
  the common perception - never mind that it's largely incorrect.

  In journalism, time is the most important factor, as I hope to
  prove; yet, Apple doesn't seem to appreciate that fact. Even when
  we try to tell Apple about the problem, do we get the message
  through? Of course not. Have you ever tried sending email to
  Apple's management? Did you receive a response? I didn't think so.


**A Journalist's Point of View** -- Ian Gregson's piece made me
  think it might be a good idea to relate a journalist's
  perspective. Although this is from a U.K. hack's position, what
  I've heard from the other side of the pond seems similar. Perhaps
  someone in Apple has an ear on the pulse of the Internet
  (metaphors exist to be mixed - they grab the reader's attention
  more than boldly split infinitives!) and perhaps something good
  will become of this article. (Come to think of it, maybe the
  person reading this article and checking the pulse will be Doctor
  Amelio himself... Nah, it'll never happen.)

  Let's begin with four facts:

* Good editorial coverage can be the most effective advertising a
  product can have - it's certainly the most cost effective.

* Bad editorial coverage can rarely be countered by any amount of
  advertising.

* If a product is good (well, as good as a Mac, anyway) good
  editorial coverage is cheap - far cheaper than advertising.

* Time is of the essence.

  To understand the fourth fact, we need a little background on the
  editorial process. As a journalist, it's important that I receive
  the information I need quickly. If I'm commissioned by an editor
  to write a review or a feature, in most cases the editor wants it
  within a couple of days. Even when a feature is planned in
  advance, I generally have only a week or two for research. This is
  the case throughout U.K. journalism, irrespective of media
  (magazine, newspaper, broadcast) and I suspect it is the same in
  the U.S. Journalists need information fast. Put another way, fact
  four is that journalists can't wait beyond the deadline for the
  information to come to them at Apple's convenience.

  It's relatively easy for companies like Apple to make written or
  verbal information available. The various electronic means (email,
  HTML, PDF, even fax and telephone) can all help to ensure a
  journalist gets necessary information rapidly. Over the last few
  months, it has been nice to see Apple start to get its act
  together in providing factual information. Apple's Web sites are
  increasingly becoming a joy to use as the information and links
  they hold become more and more coordinated. When I need rapid
  access to information, I frequently turn to them as one of the
  first sources. Apple's improving in this respect, and I find
  little to criticise.

  When a journalist writes about a particular product, on the other
  hand, that product must be available for a first-hand evaluation.
  I cannot review a product if I don't have it. Here is where Apple
  lacks a coordinated and workable response to journalists.


**Some Examples** -- To back this up I'm going to quote some real,
  live examples that I've had to contend with. These might be U.K.-
  specific, but vibes I get from reading U.S.-based magazines make
  me think the problem is endemic within Apple and all its
  subsidiaries.

  First, how do other companies handle journalists? Take Microsoft
  in the U.K. They have a press agency (Text 100), which has a
  dedicated Microsoft helpline for journalists (no messing around
  with a switchboard, or holding to canned Muzak). When a journalist
  requires a product for review, Text 100 arranges for the product's
  immediate courier delivery - no questions. The product is an NFR
  (not for resale), which becomes the journalist's personal copy.
  This is a slick operation in the UK. Microsoft knows the value of
  good editorial copy. Other successful companies (software and
  hardware - Adobe, Macromedia, and Visioneer to name a few) have
  similar PR setups. For pity's sake, even Quark has its act
  together with press relations.

  How does Apple U.K. handle journalists? Its U.K. press agency
  takes your call, then must get the product from Apple. Most times,
  Apple only allocates two or three product items for use by the PR
  agency on a loan-only basis, so the product must be returned after
  the review. Typically, loaned items are in popular demand by
  journalists, and it may be weeks before everyone has a turn at
  borrowing them.

  My crowning example of this problem occurred when I wrote a series
  of articles about various online and Internet services a year or
  so ago. I intended to look at Apple's now-defunct eWorld as part
  of this series, but was told by the PR agency that only two
  accounts were allocated to U.K. journalists (only two for the
  whole of the U.K.?), but I could have an account for a couple of
  weeks if I could wait for six weeks before receiving it as I was
  fourth in the queue. As I was in the fortunate (and unusual)
  position of writing a multi-part series in a monthly magazine, I
  figured I'd fit in eWorld somewhere down the line and agreed. If
  I'd been writing a single feature (the norm for other journalists)
  I simply couldn't have included eWorld. The account duly arrived
  after six weeks and I put it aside until I was to write that part
  of the series. Later, I tried to log on and was rejected because
  I'd overrun the two weeks by a day. Like most of the world's
  journalists who suffered the same lack of PR, I didn't write about
  eWorld at all, so undoubtedly I unwittingly became part of
  eWorld's demise.

  How does Microsoft ensure journalists remain Microsoft-friendly in
  the same circumstances? Every journalist who wants can have a free
  and permanent connection to the Microsoft Network. Other online
  services in the U.K. (AOL and CompuServe) do the same, as do most
  ISPs. In a nutshell, maybe that's why Apple pulled the plug on
  eWorld! Not because it wasn't a good service (I can't comment - I
  never got access, remember), but because it never got decent press
  coverage due to Apple's complacency.

  This isn't an isolated instance in my experience. I went through
  the same procedure to review the MessagePad 130, and found I could
  borrow one for only a week, some four weeks on down the line.
  Everyone knows (except Apple, presumably) that you must use a
  Newton for at least a month for it and you to become au fait with
  each other. A journalist playing with a MessagePad for a week
  can't be expected to write about it with serious conviction.

  To introduce a new technology like Newton, Apple should have given
  MessagePads to every high-tech journalist in the world, as a loss
  leader. I don't think it would be unfair to say the technology
  would have been more widely adopted by now if that had happened.
  As it is, the much inferior Windows CE (which any interested
  journalist need only call the local Microsoft PR agency to try)
  has a good chance to succeed where the Newton probably won't. It's
  no good merely telling people how good your new technology is, you
  must prove it.

  In a nutshell, there are maybe 400 journalists in the U.K. who
  influence the total computer purchasing powers of Joe Public here.
  To give them all a MessagePad 2000 and a 6500/300 might seem a lot
  to write off, but, for heaven's sake, we're talking of potential
  sales in the millions. Nobody, and I mean nobody, buys a computer
  without reading any of the multitude of magazines on the
  newsstands. As few of the non-Mac-specific magazines mention Apple
  at all, Joe Public will obviously think of the Mac as not worthy
  of consideration. Q.E.D.

  This malaise is not restricted to the Apple mother company itself.
  A few months ago I was commissioned to write a roundup of email
  software for Internet Today magazine. Naturally, I wanted to
  include Claris Emailer, but neither the editor of the magazine nor
  myself could acquire a shrink-wrapped copy in time for the
  deadline (a fairly typical two weeks). I had to download a 30-day
  demo off the Claris Web site to see the product. To say this was
  unsatisfactory is merely being polite. [Perhaps the situation is
  improving - TidBITS received a shrink-wrapped copy of Claris
  Emailer 2.0 the day before it officially shipped, and two more
  inexplicably arrived a week later.-Adam]


**It's Not About Freebies** -- I realise many readers will think
  I'm being self-centered in my argument that myself and other
  journalists should receive freebies. That's crap! Freebies are a
  fact of life in journalism - you should see my attic: it's stuffed
  full of products I've reviewed or featured and, apart from writing
  about them and being paid for that, I receive no financial gain
  from any of them. Companies who issue freebies as part of the
  marketing process reap the rewards in editorial coverage. If the
  products being freebied are good, then the editorial coverage will
  be good. Journalism is a profession, and journalists are
  professionals, but they don't have the time to chase companies
  like Apple for product. If product isn't available journalists
  can't see it and discover its value. Worse, they might (and do)
  create negative editorial coverage for lack of product. You only
  have to understand how journalism ticks to see where Apple is
  going wrong.

  I'm a Mac user, I love the Mac, I love just about every product
  Apple produces. But I'm frustrated. I want everybody else to be a
  Mac user. I'm prepared to put up with problems like those I've
  given as examples because of my love.

  On the other hand, journalists who don't share my love for the Mac
  don't need to and frankly won't put up with these problems - hence
  the bad press Apple appears to suffer constantly. In reality, much
  of it is not bad press, it's merely misinformed press. The problem
  is not just one of making sure journalists have the information
  they need instantly. It is a problem of making sure they have
  product instantly, too. Without product, there is no incentive to
  look for the information in the first place, so a chicken-and-egg
  situation evolves. Until Apple meets the problem head-on and
  starts helping journalists instead of blaming them, bad press will
  not change.

  Please Gil and company, change it.



$$

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 -------------------------------------------------------------------

TidBITS#378/05-May-97
=====================

  Perhaps it was our use of the word "wax" in a headline. Last
  week's "Sex Wax Your Browser" article prompted several reader
  suggestions, so this week we're baring all to share more
  techniques for making Web browsing easier. We've also got a
  detailed summary of why no one walked away with 100,000 Swedish
  kronors in the Crack A Mac challenge, information on the rapidly
  multiplying Mac OS clone market, and news of two applications that
  don't mind pushing you around.

Topics:
    MailBITS/05-May-97
    Crowds of Clones
    Even Sexier Wax for Your Browser
    The Crack A Mac Story

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-378.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#378_05-May-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

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MailBITS/05-May-97
------------------

**Feeling Pushy?** PointCast, Inc. and Marimba, Inc. this week
  released new Mac versions of their much-hyped "push technology"
  receivers. PointCast's Network (PowerPC only) has been pushed up
  to version 1.0.1, offering six additional channels including the
  Wall Street Journal, TechWeb, and the Chicago Tribune. The update
  also includes a Control Strip module for controlling the Network
  application from the desktop. Users of version 1.0 should receive
  the update automatically the next time they connect, and don't
  need to download the file (3.6 MB for an easy install, 2.6 MB for
  the smaller installation). Version 1.0 of Marimba's Castanet Tuner
  (also PowerPC only) allows access to Marimba channels, and is
  based on Java; the 2.9 MB download includes version 1.0.2 of
  Apple's Mac OS Runtime for Java, which it requires to run. [JLC]

<http://www.pointcast.com/download/dwnmac.html>
<ftp://ftp.marimba.com/pub/release/mac/tuner.hqx>


**TCP/IP CC Apology** -- My apology to Tim Kelly and Jeremy Kezer
  for carelessly including a description of Tim's TCP/IP CC control
  strip module when talking about the Jeremy's Control Strip Modules
  package in TidBITS-376_. The "buckware" tool (it costs $1) is not
  part of Jeremy's collection of control strip modules; it's one of
  many neat programs available at the official Tim Kelly software
  page. [MHA]

<http://www.madison-web.com/tkelly/>


Crowds of Clones
----------------
  by Jeff Carlson <jeffc@tidbits.com>

  For years, one of the main laments about the Macintosh was Apple's
  failure early on to license the Macintosh and/or Mac OS to outside
  vendors. Now, Mac OS clone manufacturers like Power Computing and
  Motorola are prompting users to choose not only which model to
  buy, but from which vendor. Here at TidBITS, we've often found it
  difficult enough to keep up with Apple's products (something
  exacerbated by the now-defunct Performa line), let alone sets of
  Macintosh compatibles from other manufacturers both in the United
  States and throughout the world. As a result we have a tendency
  not to talk about clone models or clone makers with great
  consistency, which doesn't do justice to the now rapidly-
  developing field of Macintosh compatible hardware. With that in
  mind, here's a brief rundown of some of the major and minor
  players in the Mac clone market. For more information on Mac OS
  clones, check out David Engstrom's The Mac and Mac Clone
  Performance Comparison Page.

<http://ng.netgate.net/~engstrom/cc.html>


**Power Computing** -- Now approaching "grandfather" status in the
  field, Power pioneered the Mac OS clone market and gave users
  reason to believe non-Apple machines could be a viable
  alternative. Power's line of computers fill both the low- and
  high-end markets: a 180 MHz 603e processor-based system starts at
  $1,199 (including decent RAM, hard drive, video, and expandability
  options), while their top of the line PowerTower Pro models hover
  between $2,700 and $3,700.

<http://www.powercc.com/>


**UMAX** -- Umax's SuperMac line, originally inherited from former
  clone manufacturer Radius, also appeals to a broad range of users,
  starting with the inexpensive C Series and topping off with the S
  Series. UMAX has moved ahead forcefully with its product lines:
  all SuperMac machines are based on an Advanced Scalable Processor
  Design (ASPD), allowing for easy processor upgrades (rather than
  replacing the entire motherboard); the S900 machines also come
  with the ability to run as dual-processor machines.

<http://www.supermac.com/>


**DayStar Digital** -- Unlike many clone vendors who are
  positioning their systems to appeal to all users, DayStar Digital
  continues to concentrate on the heavy-horsepower crowd with their
  multi-processor Genesis MP workstations. The low end of these "big
  iron" machines offers two PowerPC 604e processors running at 200
  MHz, six drive bays, six PCI slots, eight DIMM slots (allowing
  over 1 GB of RAM), and more, starting at $5,000. DayStar wants to
  dominate high-end graphics, video, and media production markets,
  and the few people I know who've used their machines don't plan to
  ever take their work back to single-processor Macs.

<http://www.daystar.com/>


**Motorola** -- It was only a matter of time before Motorola, the
  manufacturer of Macintosh processors since the 68000, started
  building its own boxes. The StarMax line starts with a 200 MHz
  603e and the usual complement of entry-level components (16 MB
  RAM, 1.2 GB hard drive, CD-ROM), and ramps up to the StarMax
  5000/300 mini tower, featuring a 300 MHz 603e (not 604e, which is
  available at 200MHz in the StarMax 4000/200) with 32MB of RAM,
  Ethernet, internal Zip drive, and 4.3 GB hard drive. Like IBM,
  Motorola may sublicense Mac-compatible systems to other
  manufacturers (such as APS) without explicit permission from
  Apple, and Motorola also offers a five-year limited warranty with
  its machines.

<http://www.mot.com/GSS/MCG/starmax/products.html>


**APS** -- APS hard drives, cables, and accessories have been a
  TidBITS standard for years, so it came as no surprise when APS
  announced its M*Power line of Macintosh clones, based on CPU
  designs from Motorola. Starting with the M*Power 603e180 ($1,199)
  and maxing out with the M*Power 604e200 ($2,399 for the best
  configuration), APS brings a wide range of configuration options
  plus their excellent support and quality hardware to the Mac OS
  clone arena (despite a lack of original machine names).

<http://www.apstech.com/>


**Computer Warehouse** -- The machines from this United Kingdom-
  based vendor are geared toward speed and power in multimedia
  authoring. Based on Motorola's Tanzania motherboard designs, all
  of their lines - New York, Manhattan, and Hollywood - run from 200
  MHz 604e processors and start with 64 MB of RAM, priced between
  1,500 and 2,000 British pounds, excluding VAT. Computer
  Warehouse's machines are being manufactured in West London and
  aimed at the European market.

<http://www.computerwarehouse.co.uk/>


**Akia** -- Akia demonstrated their array of MicroBook Power
  machines at Macworld Tokyo this year. The name suggests PowerBook
  clones, but Akia's machines come in tower and desktop models based
  on 604e and 603e processors and logic boards sublicensed from IBM,
  all with a minimum of 80 MB RAM and 4 MB of video RAM. Also
  interesting are the monitors that can be purchased for these
  systems: all of Akia's screens are flat-panel displays. To buy
  them, however, you'll have to travel to Japan.

<http://www.akia.com/mac/amac.htm>


**Vertegri Research** -- Canada-based Vertegri made news recently
  by announcing a Mac OS portable not based on Apple's PowerBook
  specifications (which aren't currently licensable). The
  imediaEngine features a 604e processor running at either 200 MHz
  or 240 MHz, built-in CD-ROM, and optional internal Zip and Jaz
  drives. What it lacks, however, is a battery. Vertegri also offers
  the Quicktower 200e, a 200 MHz 604e system.

<http://www.vertegri.com/>


**Vision Power** -- A newcomer to the clone market, Vision Power
  plans to offer two lines of machines: the 603e-based PowerExpress
  and 604e-based PowerMax, both available in desktop and tower
  models and targeted at North American customers, although the
  company has reportedly been selling Mac clones in Asia since late
  1996. According to reports, high-end models will offer a second
  processor slot for multi-processing applications (similar to
  UMAX's S900 models), but few other details are available. The
  company can be reached via email at <visionp@pacific.net.sg>.


Even Sexier Wax for Your Browser
--------------------------------
  by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>

  Maybe it was the steamy title, but Adam's article "Sex Wax Your
  Browser" in TidBITS-377_ (which contained a few tips for
  efficiently using Web browsers) generated a surprisingly large
  email response from TidBITS readers. Many people wrote in with
  additional thoughts or variations on Adam's suggestions - I
  thought I'd share a few of those and throw in some thoughts of my
  own.


**Shortcuts, Intranets, & Open Transport** -- In his article, Adam
  wrote that the latest versions of Netscape Navigator and Microsoft
  Internet Explorer both enable you to access a Web site with a
  domain name in the form of "www.company.com" by typing just the
  word "company" in the browser's Address or Location field. Thus,
  entering "tidbits" in the field would take you to:

<http://www.tidbits.com/>

  Although what Adam describes is typical for many dial-up and
  dedicated Internet users, readers wrote in to note some
  variations. Typing "tidbits" in a browser's Address/Location field
  actually first tries to set up a connection with a machine called
  "tidbits" within your current domain (such as
  "tidbits.company.com"). If you're using a stand-alone Mac, this
  isn't a problem: the Web browser fails to find that machine, then
  tries "www.tidbits.com." However, if you're on a corporate or
  organizational intranet, you might see different behavior. For
  instance, if there really is a machine called "tidbits" within
  your intranet, your browser will connect to it rather than
  TidBITS' Web site. Also, if your intranet is large (or slow),
  merely searching the network for a local machine can take quite a
  bit of time. A few readers reported their browsers frequently time
  out before they're done looking for a machine on their corporate
  intranets, so they always use bookmarks (or type in longer forms
  of a site's domain name) to access external Internet sites.

  If you're using Open Transport, you can change how Internet
  applications look for sites. At the lower right of the TCP/IP
  control panel, you'll see a field labeled Search domains (or
  Additional Search domains, if the control panel is in Advanced
  mode - you can select User Mode from the Edit menu to change
  modes). In this field, you can enter other Internet domains you'd
  like your Mac to treat as if they were on your local network.

  For example, I access the Internet from the domain quibble.com.
  However, I've also entered tidbits.com as an additional search
  domain, so I don't have to type it out to access any of TidBITS
  Internet servers. I can access TidBITS' Web site by typing "king"
  in the Address/Location field, since the machine www.tidbits.com
  also goes by the name king.tidbits.com. This technique works so
  long as none of TidBITS' machines have the same names as machines
  within my quibble.com domain - if I type "www" my browser will
  preferentially connect to my (currently unexciting) Web server at
  www.quibble.com.

  Open Transport's additional search domains can be confusing; for
  instance, Internet sites you access using these additional search
  domain appear as if they're on your local network, so the full URL
  in the example above appears as "http://king/", which isn't what
  you'd want to cut and paste into an email message to someone on a
  non-local network. Additional search domains can also be slow if
  you add large domains (like apple.com) or slow domains. However,
  once you get used to them, many people find additional domains
  helpful, and they work with any Internet application - including
  Anarchie, Fetch, and Cyberdog - not just the major Web browsers.


**ramBunctious** -- The bulk of Adam's article discussed how to
  set up a custom ShrinkWrap volume to hold your browsers' disk
  caches in RAM for better performance. Several TidBITS readers
  wrote in to recommend ramBunctious - a $12 shareware RAM disk
  program from Elden Wood and Bob Clark - for the same purpose. As
  an application, ramBunctious seems to do a decent job with pure
  RAM disks, offering write-throughs to your hard disk to preserve
  your data, and an optional folder for items that are opened
  whenever you mount a RAM disk on your desktop. Although I can't
  really recommend ramBunctious over the ever-versatile ShrinkWrap -
  RAM disks can only be used with the ramBunctious application
  running (which takes another 380K of RAM), it can't mount or
  manipulate standard disk image files, it isn't scriptable, it has
  a few quirks, and ShrinkWrap is still free for non-commercial use
  - ramBunctious was stable in my brief testing, and a few TidBITS
  readers preferred its interface to ShrinkWrap's somewhat over-
  burdened preferences dialog. If you frequently need RAM disks and
  never use disk image files, ramBunctious might be worth a look.

<http://www.kagi.com/authors/rambunctious/>


**Cyberdog** -- Adam's discussion of using ShrinkWrap for browser
  caching only applied to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape
  Navigator. Greg Scarich <gscarich@loop.com> wrote in with a tip on
  how to use the same technique with Cyberdog:

  "Thanks for the detailed discussion of setting up the persistent
  ShrinkWrap RAM cache. I took it one step further and got it
  working for Cyberdog. Cyberdog doesn't let you select the location
  for its cache, so I followed your instructions, then manually
  created a folder named Cyberdog Cache on the ShrinkWrap disk, then
  put an alias of that folder in the Cyberdog Preferences folder
  [which is inside the System's Preferences folder -Geoff],
  replacing the default folder of the same name."

  I found Greg's technique works fine with Cyberdog 2.0, although
  presumably it would work with earlier versions too.

<http://cyberdog.apple.com/>


**ShrinkWrap & AppleScript** -- Finally, many TidBITS readers
  wrote to say they're taking advantage of ShrinkWrap's
  scriptability and using a script to mount a ShrinkWrap image for
  disk cache and then launch their favorite Web browser once the
  disk is mounted. Suzanne Courteau <suzanne_courteau@macworld.com>
  writes:

  "This has come up several times in Macworld and other
  publications. In April we ran a Quick Tip ("Efficient Browser
  Cache") that suggested writing an AppleScript program to mount
  your ShrinkWrap RAM disk not at startup but when you're ready to
  go online - though I suspect after reading TidBITS-377_, for you
  that _is_ right after startup!"

<http://www.macworld.com/pages/april.97/Column.3377.html>

  Suzanne's right: Adam, Tonya, and I have dedicated Internet
  connections so we tend to want our disk caches ready from the
  moment we start up. However, many users with dial-up access to the
  Internet may not want to constantly set aside a few megabytes of
  RAM as a browser cache. The AppleScript outlined in the Macworld
  tip shows how to mount your ShrinkWrap image in RAM and launch
  Netscape Navigator from a single, double-clickable icon in the
  Finder; the same principles can be applied to UserLand Frontier,
  OneClick, and other programs. I've also written a slightly more
  elaborate AppleScript that isn't hard-coded to a particular
  ShrinkWrap image file or Web browser; with a little ambition, it
  could be modified to work with ramBunctious RAM disks.

<http://www.quibble.com/geoff/hacks/as.html>

  We hope you find these tips from other TidBITS readers useful -
  happy Web browsing!


The Crack A Mac Story
---------------------
  by Joakim Jardenberg and Christine Pamp <hacke@infinit.se>

  [Back in TidBITS-375_, we noted the success of the "Crack A Mac"
  challenge held in Sweden for two months last February to April.
  The contest offered prize money - eventually more than $13,000
  U.S. - to anybody who could alter the contents of a Web page
  served by a standard Macintosh-based Web server. Here's the story
  of the contest and the server setup, plus some of the break-in
  attempts and hoaxes the contest team encountered. -Geoff]


**What We Did and Why** -- To prepare for the Crack A Mac contest,
  we simply unpacked a standard Power Macintosh 8500/150 from its
  box. Then we installed WebSTAR 2.0 (the popular Macintosh Web
  server from StarNine), upgraded to Open Transport 1.1.2, connected
  the machine to the Internet, and put some Web pages on it. We
  didn't do anything special with the server - it wasn't behind a
  firewall, and we didn't make any other security arrangements. The
  entire setup took less than 30 minutes.

  We publicized the challenge and Hacke (the name of our server) via
  the Web and email, and information about the contest was carried
  by many diverse venues, including Ric Ford's MacInTouch, MacWEEK,
  Wired, TidBITS (of course), along with several Swedish
  publications, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. The
  contest reward was initially 10,000 Swedish kronor (about $1,350
  U.S.), but during the challenge we were able to increase the
  amount of prize money a couple of times, thanks to nine Swedish
  Apple resellers. In the end, the contest reward was 100,000
  kronor, or approximately $13,500 U.S.

  Why did we do it? We wanted to prove there is an alternative to
  large and expensive Unix- and Windows NT-based solutions for
  secure World Wide Web services - a solution that doesn't require
  hundreds of hours to set up or need a separate firewall. We were
  not trying to prove a Mac OS-based solution is right for everyone,
  but we are saying it is exactly the right solution for many of us.
  We wanted to prove the Macintosh is an off-the-shelf system that
  allows safe, secure, and reliable presence on the Internet within
  30 minutes. Since no one was able to claim the prize money, I
  think we proved our point.

  For more detailed information on the contest, rules, and frequent
  questions and answers that came up during the contest, check out
  Hacke itself.

<http://hacke.infinit.se/indexeng.html>


**The Best Attempts** -- In the early stages of the challenge,
  visitors were trying to exploit more or less known security issues
  under Unix. We also tracked news coverage on Windows NT security
  flaws by increased attempts to hack into our server using those
  flaws; each time a new article appeared about a security problem
  with Windows NT or NT-based server software, it was followed by a
  new set of attacks on our server. Many crackers seem to believe
  Windows NT and Mac OS have something in common. Needless to say,
  Hacke didn't respond at all to these attacks.

  Would-be crackers also spent a lot of effort on trying to guess
  the password to pi_admin, an administration identity under WebSTAR
  2.0 that enables webmasters to handle some core functions
  remotely. There were more than 220,000 attempts to guess the
  username and the password, but to the best of our knowledge, none
  were successful. However, even if someone had guessed the
  password, they would not have been able to change the content of
  the server; it simply wasn't possible through pi_admin using the
  set of WebSTAR plug-ins we had installed.

  When guessing at the pi_admin password grew stale, crackers tried
  to break in to the machine providing our DNS service, with the
  goal of moving Hacke to another IP number, and then changing the
  content of the server. [DNS, or Domain Name Service, translates
  between IP numbers and the more-friendly names of Internet
  machines. -Geoff] But since our DNS service (provided via
  Men&Mice's QuickDNS Pro) is also running on a Mac, these attempts
  were destined to fail. The success rate was not any better for
  contestants that tried to get into Hacke via our mail server; it
  was running under Mac OS as well, so there was no Unix sendmail
  program to try to exploit.

<http://www.miceandmen.com/products/quickdnspro/>

  Tired of all the Mac servers, would-be crackers tried to find
  something in our network that was not Mac-based. The only thing
  they found were the routers. Fortunately, the routers were
  secured, but breaking into them could have been a problem, since
  it could have taken part or all of our network off the Internet
  entirely. The question is, would that have counted as a hack that
  was eligible for the prize money? Successfully attacking a router
  would have merely revealed a security hole in our ISP's
  connection, and the idea of the challenge was to alter the
  contents of a Web page. In the end, I suppose it would have
  depended on the results of a successful router attack, but none
  were successful.

  The most interesting attempts occurred near the end of the
  competition when people realized they needed a different solution.
  The best attack was pure social-engineering.

  It started when <christine@infinit.se> received an email message
  apparently sent by <joakim@infinit.se>. The message requested
  Christine put new text on the front page of Hacke because "I don't
  have the time to do it myself." We would probably have seen
  through this ruse anyhow, but it was even more apparent because
  the letter was written in English, and we normally communicate
  with each other in Swedish.

  The next perpetrator was a Norwegian who claimed he had broken
  Hacke but he had been thrown out before he was done. He couldn't
  prove that he had been there but he threatened us with lawyers if
  he didn't receive the prize money. He even called us and told us
  that he had 3,000 witnesses because he'd accomplished the feat on
  a big screen during a conference in Norway. However, no evidence
  or witnesses have materialized.

  On the last day of the contest, we received email from two people
  that seemed to be very polite and helpful. They told us that they
  had found some information that could be very useful for us. Their
  enclosures looked like documents but they were, in fact, small
  AppleScripts that could have changed Hacke's front page had they
  been launched on the server. They were easy to spot, but it was a
  good try! The people who wrote the scripts probably realized they
  would not be successful, since in the middle of the code we found
  "Rats! No $13,000 for me today."


**Performance & Reliability** -- It is well known that the Mac OS
  is currently sensitive to Ping of Death attacks, and that Open
  Transport and WebSTAR do not have functions to handle SYN attacks.
  We were largely spared the latter, and while Ping of Death
  attempts did not seem to knock out the server every time, Hacke
  was crashed three times by Ping of Death attacks. Since our idea
  was to conduct the challenge on an easy-to-set-up server, we did
  not try to defend against these attacks. Instead, we installed the
  widely-used shareware programs Keep It Up and AutoBoot to restart
  the server automatically if it crashed.

<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/cfg/keep-it-up-131.hqx>
<ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/cfg/auto-boot-15.hqx>

  [For background, Ping of Death attacks involve sending large data
  packets (usually over 64K) that get re-assembled by the receiving
  machine into a block of data larger than the original, often
  causing an overflow and hence a crash. The attack is usually
  carried out via ping, but in theory the technique can be applied
  to any IP datagram. A SYN attack is a denial of service attack
  that involves sending a flood of SYN packets (which are always
  used to start a TCP transaction) that contain faked source
  addresses. The receiving machine then spends a lot of its time and
  resources trying to send and receive acknowledgments to and from
  machines that don't exist. SYN attacks can be used to block
  individual TCP ports (or entire machines) from real users. Macs
  aren't the only machines susceptible to these attacks, but most
  other platforms have patched vulnerabilities to the Ping of Death,
  and Apple plans to do so in a future update to Open Transport.
  -Geoff]

  Our philosophy was that crashing a Web server only to have it
  reboot a minute later was not as severe a problem as an attack
  which alters the content of a Web page. For example, it is far
  more serious for a firm like Telia (the Swedish telecommunications
  company) if their home page is altered to read "Felia" (which, in
  Swedish, could mean "something that is consistently done wrong")
  than it is for their Web site to be down temporarily.

  Additionally, the Macintosh server was incredibly dependable. As
  noted above, it went down just three times, and in each case we
  were able to trace the cause to oversized ping packets. We had
  expected that. This reliability was also demonstrated by our other
  Mac servers - Web, Mail, and DNS - that were exposed to attacks
  and inquiries during the contest. Further, the performance of the
  server was never a problem. Although Hacke was often very busy
  (with over 50 simultaneous connections), it sent out a single
  "busy" message. Some challengers may have had problems connecting
  to the server, however, since we're located in the southern
  Swedish countryside and our connection to the world is only 64
  Kbps. Also, users from overseas undoubtedly experienced some
  connectivity problems getting through to us at all.


**Some Statistics** -- During the competition's two months,
  Hacke's English and Swedish entry pages logged more than 650,000
  hits, and over 100,000 unique IP addresses were logged. The server
  sent out over 8,000 MB of data. Approximately 75 percent of
  Hacke's visitors came from the United States, 20 percent from
  Sweden, and the remainder were spread throughout the world. Many
  companies and organizations expressed interest - we logged several
  visitors from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cray, Digital, SGI, Novell,
  Boeing, AT&T, and Netscape. In addition, NASA and the U.S.
  military were frequent guests.


**The Next Step** -- Hacke will not disappear. We plan to announce
  future contests using more sophisticated setups, to address common
  criticisms of the Macintosh as a Web server platform (including
  handling several domains, remote administration, high levels of
  interactivity, access to databases, and so forth). We need to
  contact sponsors, define a stable and interesting concept, and
  ensure all criticisms about inadequate features or capabilities
  are addressed. We also need to do our real jobs: we haven't earned
  a single krona for the time we spent on the Crack A Mac
  competition. It should also be noted the Crack A Mac challenge was
  in no way affiliated with Apple Computer. We just feel we have a
  vision that should make it possible for more organizations to take
  the leap toward the Internet.


$$

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 -------------------------------------------------------------------

TidBITS#379/12-May-97
=====================

  Considering the purchase of a Newton? Don't miss this week's
  detailed review of the Newton MessagePad 2000, written by a long-
  time Newton owner who recently bought the latest model. This week,
  we also examine each of the entries in our TidBITS Search Engine
  Shootout, and bring you news about the upcoming PowerBook 2400c,
  and Aladdin Systems purchasing Rev.

Topics:
    MailBITS/12-May-97
    Shootout at the Searching Corral
    MessagePad 2000: New Newton Exceeds Expectations

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-379.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#379_12-May-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
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MailBITS/12-May-97
------------------

**A PowerBook for Tiny Fingers** -- Apple and IBM officially
  introduced the PowerBook 2400c last week, filling the sub-notebook
  category left vacant by the discontinued Duo line. The machine
  runs on a 180 MHz 603e PowerPC processor with a 256K Level 2
  cache, and supports a 10.4-inch active-matrix color display.
  Weighing only 4.4 pounds and smaller than notebook-sized paper,
  the 2400c should be a relief for travelers burdened by shoulder-
  straining loads of equipment. Some concessions Apple made in the
  2400's size are a smaller keyboard (originally designed for the
  Japanese market, where hunt-and-peck typing in Kanji is more
  common than touch typing in English) and a lack of an internal
  floppy drive. Prices should start around $3,500; units will start
  shipping in Japan at the end of the month, and are expected be
  available in the United States at the end of July. [JLC]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q3/
970508.pr.rel.pb2400c.html>


**Aladdin Revs Up** -- Aladdin Systems has acquired publishing
  rights to 6prime's Rev, the $99.95 easy-to-use revision control
  software I reviewed back in TidBITS-362_. Rev saves intermediate
  versions of frequently saved documents, making it possible to
  return to one of those intermediate versions in case of otherwise
  irrevocable mistakes. Even though Nisus Writer provides unlimited
  undos that work through saves, I still use Rev with documents I
  work on frequently, and on several occasions Rev has saved me from
  recreating work. I'm pleased to see Aladdin picking up Rev so it
  can benefit from the additional support. [ACE]

<http://www.aladdinsys.com/rev/>


Shootout at the Searching Corral
--------------------------------
  by TidBITS Staff <editors@tidbits.com>

  The deadlines for our TidBITS Search Engine Shootout contest
  announced in TidBITS-368_ have come and gone, and it's time to
  share the results. To begin, we want to thank each and every
  entrant personally. These folks put tremendous effort into
  creating search engines that would serve the Macintosh community,
  and for that alone they all deserve kudos. Overall, the quality of
  the search engines was great, and we enjoyed reading about how the
  entries were constructed.

  In this week's article, we're going to spotlight each entrant and
  provide comments about each search engine. Then, next week, after
  we've had more time to chat with the top entrants, we'll announce
  the winner (or winners, if necessary). Feel free to visit the
  sites (listed below in no particular order), but don't worry if
  you can't connect - because some entries are running on personal
  machines, they may not be available full time. You can also refer
  to TidBITS-368_ for the contest criteria.


**Scott Ribe & WebServer 4D** -- By far the snappiest entry came
  from Scott Ribe, who wrote a text indexing extension that works
  with MDG's $295 WebServer 4D to provide a blindingly fast, full-
  text search engine for TidBITS. Although Scott had to write the
  code, which took a few weeks (and it's still relatively hard-wired
  to TidBITS, but he plans to generalize it for commercial release),
  the setup seems simple, with the text indexing extension looking
  for TidBITS issues in a specific drop folder.

<http://www.mdg.com/>

  We liked this entry quite a bit, in large part thanks to its
  speed. It has a relatively spartan results page, with the issue
  number and the article title, but I imagine it could fairly easily
  add the author, or perhaps the first line of the article to a
  summary list. Results are sorted by reverse chronological order,
  and Scott plans relevance ranking for a future release. The search
  finds articles containing all the search terms, and although you
  can search for issue dates, neither Boolean nor phrase searching
  is available. Oddly, it also can't handle hyphenated words, like
  "Ashton-Tate". [ACE]

<http://38.254.39.13/tidbits_archive/>


**Ethan Benatan, Frontier & Phantom** -- Ethan Benatan came up
  with a creative, highly functional solution for searching TidBITS
  issues: using Userland Frontier, Ethan wrote a scheduled script
  that uses Fetch to download new TidBITS issues, and (when a new
  issue appears) breaks it up into articles and saves the resulting
  files in a local directory. Each night, Maxum's Phantom adds any
  new files to its cumulative index, while continuously serving as a
  CGI to handle queries from users. Frontier also uses Eudora Light
  to send status reports. Phantom is about $300, while Frontier and
  other components have little or no cost.

<http://www.maxum.com/Phantom/>
<http://www.scripting.com/Frontier/>

  The result is a spiffy TidBITS search engine, offering word-
  stemming, Boolean and phonetic searching capabilities from
  Phantom, plus "convenience" features for searching just 1996 or
  1997 TidBITS issues, searching only URLs or headers, detailed or
  compact results formats, and relevancy-ranked search results
  (expressed in percentages). To our delight, Ethan went to the
  extra effort of breaking MailBITS up into separate articles so
  they can be matched individually. Although the detailed search
  results are marred by navigation links showing up in the three-
  line previews, all in all, Ethan's effort is outstanding. [GD]

<http://anacardium.bio.pitt.edu:8080/>


**Andrew Warner & FoxPro** -- You don't hear much about the Mac
  version of FoxPro since Microsoft purchased Fox back in 1992 (see
  TidBITS-113_). But, it's still out there, and Andrew Warner has
  shown that it can still perform. This search engine was written
  entirely in FoxPro and is highly customizable. It reads TidBITS
  issues from a drop folder, and provides dynamic headers and
  footers. The system includes a file parsing program that reads the
  HTML of each issue and parses them into separate articles. Then,
  Phdbase, a text searching library add-on for FoxPro/Mac, does the
  indexing.

<http://www.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/vf_xplat.htm>

  Since Andrew had to run this on his personal machine, we couldn't
  do much testing in the time available. Boolean and phrase
  searching (via quotes) were available, and you could limit the
  searches to specific fields (such as article title or,
  hypothetically, date) as well. Andrew didn't spend much time on
  this solution, but he said he could easily add or modify many
  features, given more time. The results list included the article
  title and issue date, and articles displayed relatively well, with
  an occasional glitch or inappropriate search hit. [ACE]

<http://agency.arnoldcom.com/aw.search2.html>


**Ole, David, FileMaker & Frontier** -- Ole Saalmann and David
  Weingart harnessed Userland Frontier not only as a CGI engine for
  returning search results, but also as a parser and scheduled
  retriever for new TidBITS issues. Frontier scripts grab TidBITS
  issues, break them into articles, and stores them in a simple
  FileMaker Pro database. When search requests come in from users,
  Frontier tells FileMaker what to search for, then returns the
  results in HTML.

<http://www.scripting.com/Frontier/>
<http://www.claris.com/products/claris/filemakerpro/filemakerpro.html>

  Ole and David's project offers a pleasing AltaVista-like
  interface, detailed and compact results pages (plus an Advanced
  Search option with some Boolean and phrase-searching operations,
  plus searches in articles titles, issue ranges, and date ranges).
  Although the service displays some HTML oddities and doesn't offer
  relevancy ranking for articles, it's speedy, offers excellent
  search results pages, and has a particularly elegant scripting
  setup on the Web server. [GD]

<http://www.gilbert.org/searchBITs.fcgi>


**Duane Bemister & WebSonar** -- Duane Bemister created his entry
  using Virginia Systems' WebSonar Professional. Products in the
  WebSonar line make it possible to search large quantities of
  documents via the Web, and those documents can be in many
  different formats, making it possible to place documents online
  without converting them to HTML.

  Although WebSonar offers many sophisticated options, it suffers
  under the burden of so many possibilities that casual users may
  become discouraged with the complex menu- and toolbar-driven
  interface. Further, WebSonar uses a page metaphor which causes
  search results to not appear to return discrete articles. WebSonar
  represents a powerful tool, but we aren't convinced that casual
  searchers will wish to devote the mental cycles necessary to jump
  its learning curve. [TJE]

<http://www.websonar.com/websonarcom/tidbits_challenge.html>


**David, Curt & Apple e.g.** -- We received two entries that used
  Apple e.g., a CGI (currently freely available and in beta) from
  Apple that adds search features to Macintosh-based Web sites.
  Technically speaking, Apple e.g. uses technology from Apple
  formerly codenamed the V-Twin text indexing engine, but now
  saddled with the rather dull appellation of Apple Information
  Access Toolkit. From a backend standpoint, we like the way both
  entries integrate Apple e.g. with TidBITS, and we also like the
  user experience. It's easy to find articles, and the results list
  gives a relevancy score for each found article. Plus, there's a
  feature for checking off particularly relevant documents in a
  results list, and then finding similar articles to those checked.
  We were rather impressed at how well that feature works.

<http://cybertech.apple.com/apple_eg.html>

  The first entry, created by David Clatfelter, gives results in
  table or text format. Table format uses graphics to create a
  relevancy score fill bar and gives information about each found
  article. Unfortunately, the information begins with a jumble of
  text from the top of the issue containing the found article. The
  text format uses asterisks to indicate a relevancy score and gives
  the title of the issue in which the found article resides.

<http://idoseek.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/appleeg/eg.acgi>

  Curt Stevens submitted the second Apple e.g. entry. Users can
  choose from full or compact format for viewing results. Full
  format returns a list of found articles, each with a fill bar
  indicating a relevancy score. After the score, each entry begins
  with the article title, and includes the first few lines of the
  article, making it easy to determine if the article is of
  interest. Compact format is much like David's text format, except
  it lists the article's title instead of the title of the issue
  that containing the article. Overall, we are impressed with the
  performance and possibilities of Apple e.g. and plan to take a
  closer look. [TJE]

<http://17.255.9.121:8080/TidBITS.acgi>


**Jacque Landman Gay & LiveCard** -- When I wrote about LiveCard,
  the $150 CGI from Royal Software, in TidBITS-338_ I mostly noted
  its ability to put HyperCard stacks on the Web with little or no
  modification. Little did I expect one of the most noted members of
  the HyperCard community would use it as the basis for a TidBITS
  search engine.

<http://www.quibble.com/HyperActive/LiveCard.acgi>

  LiveCard acts as an intermediary between a Macintosh Web server
  and Jacque's custom HyperCard stack that indexes issues, performs
  searches, and report results. LiveCard presents a simple search
  form for entering up to three sets of search terms. Quoted phrases
  can be used, and Boolean search options are available. Search
  results are displayed as a list of article titles, and clicking a
  title takes users to the appropriate location in a TidBITS issue.
  Although HyperCard is sometimes maligned as a CGI engine in
  comparison to Frontier or compiled solutions, this LiveCard tool
  searches more than 10 MB of TidBITS articles and returns search
  results with surprising speed (and my server, where it's
  temporarily being hosted, isn't particularly fast). Although this
  search engine doesn't let users restrict searches to particular
  ranges of dates or issues and only presents a bare-bones results
  listing, it's a surprisingly smooth effort given the small amount
  of time Jacque was able put into it, and an apt demonstration of
  the kinds of Web services that can be produced with off-the-shelf
  authoring software (especially since LiveCard is included in
  Apple's HyperCard 2.3.5 Value Bundle). [GD]

<http://www.interedu.com/royalsoftware/descriptions/LiveCard.html>
<http://hypercard.apple.com/>


**Glen Stewart & WarpSearch** -- Glen Stewart's WarpSearch CGI
  works differently from most of the other entrants. Other solutions
  usually index the entire TidBITS archive, which makes for fast
  searches, but requires weekly additions to the index and can use a
  fair amount of disk space. In contrast, WarpSearch just searches
  the entire archive each time. That might sound slow, but it still
  manages to search the 10 MB of TidBITS issues at roughly 700K per
  second.

  WarpSearch only allows phrase searches, and no Boolean or multiple
  non-contiguous word searches. The results list provides the issue
  name, the size of the issue, the modified date, and the number of
  matches in that issue. Unfortunately, it doesn't break articles
  out of the overall issues, sometimes returns unintelligible
  issues, and because it uses text from our setext files rather than
  the HTML versions, the found text doesn't look as good as it
  could. [ACE]

<http://stewart-3.pnet.msen.com/cgi/warpsearch/warpsearch.html>


**Nisus Software & GIA** -- Although Nisus Software's GIA (Guided
  Information Access) technology isn't precisely a full-text search
  engine, we decided to let them compete anyway. GIA provides
  keyword-based live filtering, so as you select keywords from a
  predefined list, the lists of matching TidBITS articles and
  available keywords both shrink. Selecting additional keywords
  decreases the number of articles and keywords until you've
  narrowed the search to a manageable set of articles. The hardest
  part of setting up a keyword system is selecting the keywords, and
  the system seemed to work best for relatively broad searches.
  Looking for a specific article was sometimes frustrating if
  necessary keywords weren't present.

  I continue to be impressed with the possibilities of GIA, but its
  reality lags. Nisus Software has implemented GIA entirely in Java,
  and although we used it with a different Java VMs (including
  Internet Explorer on a PC), it was continually plagued by
  interface glitches. Some can no doubt be easily fixed, but others
  may be more basic to Java or current tools. In the end, although
  GIA is fascinating technology, it doesn't meet the shootout
  criteria, since the server doesn't currently run on a Mac, and
  it's not providing a full-text search. [ACE]

<http://www.infoclick.com/gia/gia6/TidBits1.html>


**Roger McNab & NZDL** -- Roger McNab at the University of Waikato
  integrated the text of TidBITS issues with the search engine of
  the New Zealand Digital Library (NZDL). The NZDL enables users to
  search specific collections of documents (including Project
  Gutenberg, FAQ Archives, others only available in PostScript or
  TeX formats), and permits ranked or Boolean queries, additional
  search options, and compact results pages that identify article
  titles and authors.

  Although the NZDL archive is functional, useful, and offers an
  attractive query interface, it also violates one of our contest's
  ground rules: it doesn't run on a Macintosh. Although core
  portions of the project are written in Perl and the author doesn't
  anticipate problems with a Macintosh port, the simple fact is that
  a Mac version doesn't yet exist. [GD]

<http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~nzdl/tbc/>


**Tune In Next Week** -- There you have our contest entrants -
  tune in next week for more details on our favorites and the
  eventual winner or winners.


MessagePad 2000: New Newton Exceeds Expectations
------------------------------------------------
  by David Gewirtz <david@component-net.com>

  It took a long time, but I'm finally the proud owner of a slick
  MessagePad 2000 (MP2K). Getting it was a challenge. The original
  unit I purchased was stolen en route from NewtonSource to my
  office, but after a week or so (and thanks to a harried
  NewtonSource employee), a unit is in my hands. Although I've had
  the machine for a short time, I can definitely say it's pretty
  cool.

<http://www.newton.apple.com/product_info/devices/MP2000/MP2000.html>
<http://www.newtonsource.com/>


**MessagePad 2000 Hardware** -- Compared to my previous Newton (a
  MessagePad 120), the MP2K is about three-eighths of an inch wider,
  a tad taller, and about the same thickness, although most reports
  claim it's thinner. Using the always-scientific "heft test," the
  MP2K (with batteries) feels slightly heavier than its older
  cousin. [The spec sheet claims a height of 1.1 inches, width of
  4.7 inches, and depth of 8.3 inches, with an overall weight
  (batteries included) of 1.4 pounds. -Tonya]

  Despite the small physical size increase, the screen real estate
  has grown dramatically from 320 by 240 to 480 by 320. The added
  pixels fit nicely into a similar physical display space because
  the new screen has a resolution of 100 dpi. It was neat seeing my
  to do list (which had previously spilled over the bottom of the
  screen) fit inside the available space. Comparatively speaking,
  you get about as much additional screen space as you would if you
  jumped from a 640 by 480 monitor to 800 by 600.

  The display also now supports 16 shades of gray, which provide a
  slight improvement to some interface items (like the Newton Works
  scroll bar), but the various grays become somewhat difficult to
  see in less-than-perfect lighting.

  Though the MessagePad 130 featured a backlit display, this is my
  first experience with one. As I sit at Bennigan's (a restaurant)
  gobbling appetizers, I can finally clearly see my MessagePad's
  screen. It's even bright enough to use in the total darkness of my
  car.

  Handwriting recognition is fast (especially if you turn off the
  delay option), thanks to the MP2K's 161 MHz StrongARM processor.
  When writing long notes in the MessagePad 120's NotePad, I often
  experienced lags; this problem does not occur on the MP2K, and I'm
  happily writing this article in the new Newton Works word
  processor.

  The MP2K looks different than its predecessors. The pen drops in
  from the top and has a nifty pop-out stand. The screen cover opens
  like a book from the side. With a bit of creativity (propping it
  up on the keyboard case and rotating the screen), the door becomes
  a stand that holds the Newton at the right angle for typing on the
  optional external keyboard.

  Taking honors as the first Newton with sound input capabilities,
  the MP2K includes a new NotePad paper that records sound for up to
  sixty seconds per sheet. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to
  start recording without going to the NotePad and clicking the
  record button - which means it's tough to do one-touch recording
  while driving.


**Docking Port** -- A small door located at the top of the MP2K
  opens to reveal a power tap and a mini-bus that's now called a
  "docking port." The earlier mini-DIN serial port now comes in the
  form of an easy-to-lose dongle that plugs into the docking port.
  As soon as they become available, I plan to buy several dongles
  for when I lose the original.

  The MP2K includes an auto-docking function that activates the
  connection utility when the dongle is plugged in. That's not
  necessarily exciting in its own right, but I hope that some
  enterprising firm builds a complete docking stand that takes
  advantage of this feature.


**PC Card Slots** -- A real win is the addition of a second PC
  Card slot. It's finally possible to put a modem in one slot and a
  memory card in the other. This will come in handy as you make use
  of EnRoute i-net (an email client) and NetHopper (a Web browser).
  EnRoute has a robust set of rules to process incoming mail, but I
  also want to see how Eudora Pro for the Newton stands up.

<http://www.netstrat.com/>
<http://allpen.allpen.com/nethopper3.html>
<http://www.eudora.com/newton/>


**Battery Power** -- The MP2K uses four off-the-shelf alkalines
  (AA) to power its hungry processor. Though marketing hype claims
  three to six weeks of life during normal use, I worry about it.
  After a week, the battery indicator shows I've consumed half the
  available power, leading me to believe I'll be swapping batteries
  at least twice a month.

  There's no support for a charging station (although the docking
  connection could conceivably be useful here), so it's not possible
  to drop the MP2K onto the charger when you return home at night
  and know there will be juice in the morning. Apple offers a Newton
  9W Power Adapter that's supposed to charge a set of nickel-hydride
  batteries, but neither the battery nor the charger I ordered
  showed up with the Newton. In the interim, I've installed a 4 MB
  memory card, and I'm going to initiate a backup each morning.


**Button Panel** -- Instead of the silk-screened button panel, the
  MP2K renders a "soft" panel on the display. At first I wasn't
  impressed with the grayscale shading of the panel, but it grew on
  me as I discovered some of its secrets, such as:

* When you rotate the screen, the panel rotates as well, so the
  buttons and associated text face the right direction.

* You can drag & drop items from the Extras drawer onto the button
  bar, and - in this way - customize the bar to contain the goodies
  you want.

  Since the button bar is a function of software, we can expect to
  see replacements and enhancements in the future.

  (Ah, the perils of mobile computing. Bennigan's is closing, so
  I'll continue this review somewhere else... and here I am a few
  days later having breakfast at Friendly's.)


**Newton Works** -- An important new feature, Newton Works appears
  at first to be a simple word processor (like the original
  MacWrite). But if you look at the New pop-up menu, you'll discover
  you can create a new paper or a new spreadsheet, thanks to the
  optional QuickFigure Works. There's now enough screen space for a
  reasonable number of cells, so a Newton spreadsheet is finally
  practical. According to the documentation, QuickFigure can read
  and export to Excel.

  I'm not sure why QuickFigure Works is part of the Newton Works
  program. There's no provision for intermixing spreadsheet data and
  word processing documents (or I haven't found any), and though the
  word processor requires the Newton Keyboard (there are some
  downloadable utilities to get around this), the spreadsheet
  recognizes handwriting. Interestingly, the paper document object
  has a subordinate object called QuickSketch that enables you to
  put a drawing in a word-processed document.


**Other Installed Software** -- The traditional Newton
  applications haven't changed in any discernible way. The In Box
  and Out Box icons have been combined into InOut; the Connection
  icon has become Dock, and (depending on which Newton bundle you
  purchase) you'll also get EnRoute, NetHopper, and QuickFigure
  Works.

  After crashing my Newton badly on the first day (I kept popping
  out the battery pack to show it around), I was concerned I'd lose
  the installed software on a system reset. Fortunately, I didn't
  have to reset the MP2K back to bare hardware to restore the
  system. If it has been necessary to zero the system and restart
  it, I could have downloaded the spreadsheet, email software, and
  Web browser from a desktop computer, and Apple provided PC and
  Macintosh floppies with copies of the add-on software.


**Newton Connection Utilities** -- Because I'm thrilled with my
  MessagePad 2000, I hate to end this review on a sour note, but I'm
  disappointed with the long-awaited Newton Connection Utilities
  (NCU), which comes as a beta release with the MP2K, complete with
  a "special, limited time offer" that gives users the "incredible
  opportunity" to upgrade to version 1.0 sometime between now and
  November.

<http://www.newton.apple.com/product_info/SW/ncu.html>

  I find shipping a beta version inexcusable. Users are spending
  nearly a thousand dollars on what, for many, is a luxury item, and
  they shouldn't have to worry that the software for moving personal
  data between a desktop computer and the Newton is unfinished and
  subject to known problems.

  NCU is huge. Weighing in at over 4 MB (for a data transfer
  program!), NCU supports backup, synchronization, package download,
  and remote keyboard functions. I tried a backup and it failed
  twice. The third time NCU successfully accepted a backup session
  from the Newton.

  NCU provides synchronization functions for _only_ Claris Organizer
  2.0 and Now Contact/Up-to-Date 3.5. I own version 3.6 of Now's
  products, so it's not clear if I'll be able to do a successful
  synchronization.

  I considered purchasing a U.S. Robotics PalmPilot because of its
  one-touch synchronization feature (and the little dock is sexy).
  However, I didn't want to learn Graffiti, it didn't include an
  outliner, and its the desktop computer software is single-user
  only. [TidBITS will review the Pilot in the near future. -Jeff]

  By contrast, the Newton has everything - except quality
  synchronization. NCU could have provided it, but although there's
  an auto dock feature on the MP2K, there's no corresponding
  functionality in NCU, and you must launch NCU by hand. Further,
  NCU has no facility for automation and no scripting support.


**Conclusions** -- The Newton MessagePad 2000 is an exceptional
  piece of hardware. The fit and finish of the device is everything
  we've come to expect from Apple. Even so, I am disappointed with
  Apple's performance in providing supporting resources:
  rechargeable batteries, docks, replacement dongles, and a better
  version of Newton Connection Utilities.

  Given Apple's inconsistent long-term approach to the Newton
  platform, I worry about relying on the product. On the other hand,
  I'm extremely happy with the device, and I'll continue to use it
  constantly.

<http://www.newton.apple.com/>


**DealBITS** -- Through the URLs below, Cyberian Outpost is
  offering TidBITS readers deals on the Newton MessagePad 2000. The
  basic MP2K is $939.95; the enhanced model with keyboard, case, and
  spreadsheet, is $1,079.95.

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/message-pad-2000.html>
<http://www.tidbits.com/products/message-pad-2000-deluxe.html>



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TidBITS#380/19-May-97
=====================

  In March we promised you a Search Engine Shootout, and this week,
  with gun smoke still hanging in the air, we'll show you which
  entries are still standing. We also discuss Apple's new customer
  support options, the newest version of Microsoft Internet
  Explorer, the release of Newton Connection Utilities 1.0, and
  TidBITS distribution on CompuServe.

Topics:
    MailBITS/19-May-97
    Apple Revamps Support Options
    And Then There Was One...

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-380.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#380_19-May-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.3, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS Readers! <----- NEW!
   Used IIci 8/80, 13" Apple RGB, keyboard, Word 5 upgrade: $339
   More details: <http://www.smalldoggy.com/#tid> -- 802/496-7171

* StarNine Technologies -- 800/525-2580 -- <info@starnine.com>
   Top Internet tools: WebSTAR, WebCollage, ListSTAR, and more.
   WebCollage is shipping! <http://www.starnine.com/webcollage/>

* MacWorks -- 800/463-1026 -- <sales@macworks.com>
   TidBITS Special - free shipping on Apple upgrade cards from $79
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MailBITS/19-May-97
------------------

**Internet Explorer Updated** -- Microsoft last week released
  Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.1, which adds several welcome
  features. Most notable are the capability to monitor Web sites for
  changes, an AutoComplete feature that finishes typing URLs for you
  if you've visited that URL before; site password management that
  remembers cookies, usernames, and passwords; and a Download
  Manager that finally downloads files in a download window rather
  than the main browser window. Internet Explorer 3.0.1 also adds
  support for Netscape's JavaScript scripting language, gives you
  the choice of accepting or declining cookies, and offers an
  AutoSearch that lets you search directly from the Address bar by
  typing "go" or "?" and then the search keywords. Versions are
  available for both PowerPC and 68K Macs, and download sizes range
  from 3.3 MB to 12.3 MB. [ACE]

<http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/iemac.htm>


**Reduced Distribution on CompuServe** -- If you've become
  accustomed to downloading TidBITS from a CompuServe forum, the
  time has come to change your habits. We'd been thinking about
  dropping direct CompuServe distribution because the download
  counts have fallen while direct email subscriptions to CompuServe
  subscribers have been climbing steadily, plus CompuServe Navigator
  is old, clunky, and difficult to automate. However, our hand was
  forced a few weeks ago when our CompuServe account via ZiffNet/Mac
  stopped accepting our password. We have no problem with TidBITS
  appearing in CompuServe forums but don't plan to handle the
  distribution any more. If anyone wants to upload the issues, as is
  happening in the MACCLUB forum, feel free to do so. It's probably
  easier for CompuServe members to subscribe to our Internet mailing
  list (which already has over 800 CompuServe subscribers) by
  sending email to <tidbits-on@tidbits.com>. [ACE]


**Newton Connection Utilities 1.0** -- In TidBITS-379_, David
  Gewirtz complained that a beta version of Newton Connection
  Utilities shipped with the MessagePad 2000 (and the eMate 300).
  Apple just released an updater to Newton Connection Utilities 1.0,
  which updates NCU 1.0b6 to version 1.0. If you've used the beta
  version to synchronize between your PDA and desktop machine, Apple
  recommends that you run another synchronization right before
  updating NCU. The download weights in at 4.8 MB. [ACE]

<ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/
Newton/For_MacOS/Other_Newton_Updates/NCU_1.0_Updater.img.hqx>


Apple Revamps Support Options
-----------------------------
  by Jeff Carlson <jeffc@tidbits.com>

  For the last several years, for those with 800-number access, if
  you experienced problems with your Mac, you could call Apple
  toll-free at 800/SOS-APPL. As of last week, however, Apple has
  multiplied its telephone customer support options to bring it in
  line with industry standards and to try to recoup the high cost of
  technical support. Although the shift isn't sudden or surprising,
  Apple's implementation of its new policies has been less than
  clear. Here is a brief rundown of what to expect if you need to
  contact Apple with a problem. [Most of this article applies to
  people in the United States; our apologies to readers in other
  countries who have questions along these lines. -Tonya]


**A Winding Path** -- Last February, Apple reduced free telephone
  help for Performa owners from 24 hours a day, seven days per week,
  to 12 hours per day, five days per week, in order to concentrate
  resources on those hours when the volume of calls was highest.

  Then, in March, Apple announced the basics of the current plan:
  all new Apple customers who bought products after 01-Apr-96
  receive 90 days of free phone support. Callers requesting help
  after that period will be directed to other support options,
  including Technical Support Online and the new fee-based Apple
  Support Line (see below). Until 15-May-97, however, the company
  wasn't strictly enforcing the 90 day limit.

<http://www.info.apple.com/>

  Now, Apple is sticking to the policy set forth in March, with
  three exceptions: Lifetime technical support will be available via
  800/SOS-APPL in education channels; for Apple-branded products
  purchased between 01-Apr-93 and 01-Apr-96; and for Performas
  purchased between 01-Sep-92 and 01-Apr-96. The last two conditions
  apply the original owners of Apple equipment..

  Apple's new support structure now incorporates four main areas:


**AppleAssurance** -- AppleAssurance covers every Apple product
  and includes a one-year, worldwide hardware warranty and 90 days
  of free phone support (800/500-7078). You must provide your
  Support Access Number, included with your product.

<http://support.info.apple.com/support/supportoptions/appleassurance.html>


**Apple Support Line - Level I** -- For a $69.95 annual fee,
  you can sign up for the new Apple Support Line - Level I. (There
  doesn't seem to be a Level II.) This support option covers one CPU
  and attached peripherals in the United States for up to one year
  or ten incidents (defined as "a question relating to a specific,
  discrete problem that can be answered by isolating its origin to a
  single cause"). Phone support is available Monday through Friday,
  6 A.M. to 6 P.M., Pacific Time. Those who cough up the cash will
  also receive a free Macintosh: Beyond the Basics CD-ROM. Call
  toll-free 888/APL-VALU (888/275-8258) to sign up through Apple, or
  contact your local reseller.

<http://support.info.apple.com/support/supportoptions/suptline/aplsupline.html>


**AppleCare** -- Apple's extended service program works the same
  as the one-year hardware warranty, with prices varying depending
  by product and whether you choose carry-in, on-site, or mail-in
  service (the price for my PowerBook 5300cs, for example, is
  approximately $240 for a year of the carry-in option).

<http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/applecare/applecare.html>


**Support Professional** -- Geared toward support managers and
  staff, Apple's Support Professional option costs $2,000 to $3,400
  per year and includes access to a private Web site with an
  expanded Tech Info Library, software updates, disk images of all
  Apple software, and Apple manuals in PDF format. Apple also
  provides bimonthly support CDs and quarterly support briefing
  teleconferences.

<http://support.info.apple.com/sp/supportpro.html>


**What about AppleClub?** Although it first appeared to be an
  offshoot of Apple's support options, AppleClub is more of an added
  service. For a $19.95 annual fee, members receive exclusive
  software and hardware discounts, Apple software updates accessible
  via private servers, a free CD-ROM, and, presumably, that hey-
  buddy feeling of belonging to an exclusive club.

<http://club.apple.com/>

  Apple has come a long way from when the company provided its
  operating system free of charge, and though I expect that
  technical support was a big red line in Apple's profit and loss
  statement, it's sad to bid farewell to yet another aspect of what
  was once a rather idealistic company. In particular, small
  businesses who own a number of Macs may find the new pricing
  particularly unpalatable, and it sounds like quite the headache
  for consultants who need to contact Apple regarding clients'
  machines. For the money, though, I hope Apple will be able to
  provide uniformly quick, competent, and friendly service.


And Then There Was One...
-------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  First, a correction. While developing search engines for the
  TidBITS Search Engine Shootout, some entrants sent more than one
  URL as they changed configurations, or temporarily used different
  servers as test machines. The URL we gave last week for Glen
  Stewart's WarpSearch entry such a temporary location, set up only
  for the duration of the Shootout. You can check out WarpSearch
  reliably at the following URL:

<http://associate.com/innovative/Glen_Stewart/About_WarpSearch.html>

  Last week in TidBITS-379_ we introduced you to all the entrants
  and promised we'd make a decision this week. It hasn't been easy.
  Of our 11 entrants, all of whom submitted excellent entries, four
  stood out.

* Scott Ribe and WebServer 4D

<http://38.254.39.13/tidbits_archive/>

* Ethan Benatan, Frontier and Phantom

<http://anacardium.bio.pitt.edu:8080/>

* Ole Saalmann and David Weingart, Frontier and FileMaker Pro

<http://www.gilbert.org/searchBITs.fcgi>

* Curt Stevens and Apple e.g.

<http://17.255.9.121:8080/TidBITS.acgi>


**The Criteria** -- We had hoped that one of the entries would
  obviously rise to the top, but we had no such luck. So, we came up
  with some refined criteria for comparing our top four entries.
  These criteria are:

* Ease of use for the end user
* Searching power for the end user
* Ease of setup and maintenance for us
* Searching speed
* Setup cost
* "Hit by a bus" survivability (I'll explain this later)
* Overall accuracy of results

  We are aware that Apple has not yet shipped a final Telepathy
  extension, so we're sure some of the comments below can easily be
  addressed by the developers. We've tried to take that flexibility
  into account, but overall, we judged what we saw.

  Also keep in mind that we didn't evaluate these search engines for
  which is _generically_ the best. We instead chose which would be
  the best solution for TidBITS. That's likely to be different from
  anything you may want a search engine to do, so if you want to
  build your own Mac OS-based search engine, you should investigate
  these technologies more closely (and check last week's article for
  others that might suit your purposes).


**Ease of Use** -- Obviously, a search engine should be as easy to
  use, because otherwise people will avoid it. This criterion is
  often at odds with the next one, which rates searching power,
  since the more options, the more complex the interface and the
  results list inevitably become. Ethan's Phantom-based entry has
  more options on its main search page than the rest, lowering its
  ease of use slightly. Some of us like AltaVista's interface, and
  familiarity on the Web is a good thing, so Ole and David's
  Frontier and FileMaker entry gets points for providing both simple
  and advanced search forms. Curt's Apple e.g. entry and Scott's
  WebServer 4D entry have dead simple interfaces, which is good.

  All our entrants provide results at the article level (and Ethan
  gets extra points for breaking out MailBITS separately), although
  Curt links to the article within the full issue rather than
  breaking the articles out as individual files. Curt's technique
  forces people to download a full issue each time but provides
  context around the article in question and makes it easy to scan
  other articles in the same issue. Ole and David straddle the fence
  by breaking the articles out and also pointing into the full issue
  on our Web site, which is good for an independent search engine,
  but less important for something we'd run ourselves.

  A final part of the ease of use criterion is the results page. The
  results should be attractive, easy to scan quickly, and sorted
  well. Ole and David score points from their homage to AltaVista
  but display results newest first, whereas Ethan and Curt both take
  advantage of relevance sorting. Ethan's results list unfortunately
  includes the text from the navigation bar in the summary text, but
  that's probably easily rectified. Scott's results page does
  chronological sorting (relevance is slated for a later release)
  and uses a simple table with the issue number and article title,
  but no summary text, which makes it more difficult to determine
  which article you might want. I suspect that's fixable.

  Both Ethan and Curt include a field for a new search in the
  results list, and Ethan puts the search terms in the field. Apple
  e.g.'s option to find similar documents is more flexible than
  Phantom's, since you can select multiple articles by clicking
  multiple More checkboxes, whereas you can only find documents
  similar to a single hit in Phantom's results list.

  Although we're splitting hairs here, since all four are easy to
  use, we give the ease of use award to Curt Stevens and Apple e.g.
  for the combination of a simple interface and a clear and
  attractive results list.

    Ease of Use: Curt Stevens and Apple e.g.


**Searching Power** -- Sometimes you want to find information
  that's not easily identified with a word or two. For that, you
  need additional flexibility and power in the search engine. You
  may know roughly when an article was published, or you may know
  how a word starts or how it sounds but not know how to spell it
  properly. Ethan's Phantom-based entry wins hands down when it
  comes to searching power, which is the trade-off for losing a bit
  on simplicity of interface. Phantom provides Boolean searching,
  phonetic searching, word stemming, searching within certain HTML
  tags, and some level of date range searching. Ole and David's
  Frontier/FileMaker entry offers an advanced search that provides
  Boolean searching, title searches, issue number searches, and date
  range searches, which are quite useful. Curt's Apple e.g solution
  and Scott's WebServer 4D entry offer little in the way of this
  sort of flexibility, although you can throw parts of dates (like
  the last two digits of the year) into the search string to improve
  granularity.

  The capability to find similar documents is useful for narrowing
  searches. It's provided by both Ethan and Curt via Phantom and
  Apple e.g., and both seem to do a good job at it. Overall, we
  found that Apple e.g. had a better interface for finding similar
  documents, but it's not enough to compete with Phantom's searching
  flexibility.

    Searching Power: Ethan Benatan, Frontier and Phantom


**Ease of Setup and Maintenance** -- This category is difficult to
  judge, because we neither set up nor attempted to administer all
  of the contest entries. However, based on what we know of the
  tools involved and what we know of our existing tools, we can make
  some assumptions.

  Ole and David and Ethan use Frontier to suck in new TidBITS
  issues, parse them into articles (and MailBITS, in Ethan's case),
  and then turn them over to the database engine (FileMaker Pro and
  Phantom, respectively). Ole and David also use Frontier as the CGI
  to communicate between the Web server and FileMaker Pro, whereas
  Phantom acts as both the indexer and the Web server. Using
  Frontier offers significant flexibility, but may suffer from ease
  of setup - scripting solutions seldom have well-designed graphical
  interfaces. Similarly, although the flexibility is there, changes
  require programming, and although both Geoff Duncan and Matt
  Neuburg are capable of that, the rest of us at TidBITS aren't.
  Since we're small, we try to keep overlapping skill sets so anyone
  can step in for anyone else if necessary.

  Scott and Curt both look in a drop folder for new issues of
  TidBITS to index, which is an ideal solution for us, because it's
  easy for us to modify our existing distribution automation to put
  a copy of the issue in a folder. Curt's Apple e.g. entry is
  probably the best here, since we believe we can point it at our
  existing folder of TidBITS issues, whereas Scott's WebServer 4D
  entry currently deletes the original from the drop folder after
  importing it. We're sure that's an easy thing to change if
  necessary.

    Ease of Setup and Maintenance: Curt Stevens and Apple e.g.


**Speed** -- Overall, we didn't notice that any of the entries
  were particularly slow, and speed wouldn't have entered our
  consciousness in a big way if it hadn't been for Scott Ribe's
  WebServer 4D entry. Everyone else seemed roughly similar (and
  since there are lots of variables in how fast something works on
  the Web, we ignored occasional differences), but Scott's entry was
  blindingly fast, so much so that I ended up using it a few times
  in the last few weeks because I knew it would be the quickest to
  send results back. There's not much else to say about this
  criterion, but wow!

    Speed: Scott Ribe and WebServer 4D


**Cost** -- Again, it's difficult to estimate the cost of setting
  up one of these search engines since we already have some of the
  necessary equipment and software. For those of you interested in
  setting up a similar server from scratch, we'll rough out the
  costs as we understand them.

* Scott's entry requires the $295 WebServer 4D from MDG, and he
  said that he hopes to sell the custom text indexing extension he's
  writing for this purpose for somewhere in the $100 to $200 range.
  It achieves its blinding speed on a Quadra 800 with a PPC upgrade
  card, which is about as slow as Power Macs get, so CPU power isn't
  much of an issue, nor is disk space or speed. RAM is useful
  though, and Scott recommends a system with 48 MB.

<http://www.mdg.com/>

* Ethan's entry uses Maxum's Phantom running in stand-alone mode,
  so it doesn't even require an additional Web server. Phantom is
  the major cost at $395, although Ethan's setup also uses the free
  Frontier and the free Eudora Light (for reports). Currently,
  Ethan's entry runs on a 32 MB PowerBase 180 from Power Computing.

<http://www.maxum.com/Phantom/>
<http://www.scripting.com/Frontier/>

* Ole and David's entry uses the free Frontier, Chris Hawk's free
  Quid Pro Quo as the Web server, and Claris's FileMaker Pro, which
  costs roughly $200. To avoid buying FileMaker Pro, Ole and David
  say that you could use their Frontier suite with other databases.
  Ole and David's entry was hosted on two separate machines; the
  main one we pointed at turned out to use a 68040 and 20 MB of RAM,
  so hardware shouldn't be an problem for their solution.

<http://www.scripting.com/Frontier/>
<http://www.socialeng.com/>
<http://www.claris.com/products/claris/filemakerpro/filemakerpro.html>

* Curt's entry uses Apple e.g., which is free, although it does
  require a Web server such as StarNine's WebSTAR, which we use, or
  the free Quid Pro Quo. It's running on an Apple Workgroup Server
  8150/110 with 40 MB (10 MB for Apple e.g.). That's a 100 MHz
  PowerPC 601 - not a particularly fast machine. The bottom line
  comes down to the fact that if you have a Power Mac, you wouldn't
  have to spend any money to get Apple e.g. up and running.

<http://cybertech.apple.com/apple_eg.html>

    Cost: Curt Stevens and Apple e.g.


**Hit by a Bus** -- As I noted before, TidBITS is a small
  organization, and as with any small organization, we worry about
  what TidBITS would do if something terrible (such as being hit by
  a bus) were to happen to one of us. As such, we avoid situations
  where any one of us is the only person who could perform an
  important task - if that person were to die in a freak gardening
  accident, that task would be difficult to continue. So, in
  thinking about which search engines to adopt, we considered the
  ramifications of the hit by a bus scenario for each one.

  Curt's Apple e.g. entry would seem to be the obvious winner, but
  for one wee problem: it's currently a custom job. Curt works at
  Apple on Apple e.g., and he modified Apple e.g. to understand that
  TidBITS issues have more than one article in them. So, unless
  Curt's custom changes are rolled into the public version of Apple
  e.g. and maintained (which is the plan), Curt becomes our weak
  link. And, given Apple's recent troubles, Apple e.g.'s future in
  general is something of a question mark.

  Scott's entry suffers some of the same problems, given that the
  bulk of the work is his custom text indexing extension, which is
  currently hard-coded to certain aspects of TidBITS. If we were to
  change something about our format, and Scott had been abducted by
  space aliens, we'd be in trouble. Also, although WebServer 4D is
  obviously performing well, MDG is a small company in what can be a
  hard market.

  Interestingly, although we marked Ethan and Ole and David's
  entries down slightly for ease of setup because they're based in
  large part on Frontier, they both do better in this category
  because of that. Frontier may not be the sort of thing that some
  of us have ever been able to wrap our heads around, but many
  people know it and could help in case of emergency. Ethan also
  uses Phantom, and Maxum seems like a solid company that is
  unlikely to disappear or drop Phantom. Ole and David rely on
  FileMaker Pro, and given that it's the most popular database on
  the Macintosh, it's a good bet that it will be around forever with
  plenty of people who know how to use it.

  Ethan edges out Ole and David by a hair here, if only because he
  seems to rely on Frontier a little bit less, which means finding
  someone who could fix a problem in his code would be slightly
  easier.

    Hit by a Bus: Ethan Benatan, Frontier and Phantom


**Overall Accuracy** -- There's nothing worse than not being able
  to find something you know exists thanks to some quirk in a search
  engine. Geoff Duncan was a software tester in a previous lifetime,
  and he briefly hammered on all of the entrants with deliberately
  stressful and unusual searches. I'll let him report on which ones
  fared well.

  Fortunately, the four final entrants all provide essentially
  correct and functional search results. Simple targeted tests for
  known items - the word "emporia," for instance, which until now
  only appeared in one TidBITS issue - worked correctly in all
  engines; similarly, Boolean functions plus issue and date
  restrictions appeared to function correctly where they were
  offered. Stress tests for large (or huge) results lists and
  simultaneous queries were also handled properly. However, some
  more complex (or more naive) queries occasionally generated mixed
  hits or unexpected results lists. After isolating the search
  engines' behaviors, I tried to figure out how quirks might impact
  real users.

  Both Curt with Apple e.g. and Ethan with Phantom sort search
  results by perceived relevance, which proves both a strength and a
  weakness. On one hand, they both tend to let the most appropriate
  articles float to the top of a results list, which is obviously
  useful. However, relevancy ranking also tends to break down with
  (perhaps unwittingly) vague queries. Apple e.g. casts a wide net,
  routinely finding more than 100 matches for simple queries ("RAM
  Doubler review"), of which the top-most matches were fine, but
  subsequent matches can appear random at first glance and also have
  a comparatively high relevancy. Phantom, conversely, throws away
  the chaff: the same query turns up just three items, the first of
  which is right on target, and the other two of which mention all
  the terms but (appropriately) have single-digit relevancy. Phantom
  does a similarly good job narrowing down results with other
  generally phrased searches.

  Neither Scott's nor Ole and David's entries offer relevancy;
  instead sorting results from most to least recent. However (and
  this is probably fixable), Ole and David's entry sometimes returns
  duplicate hits in early TidBITS issues, with some early hits
  appearing at the top of the results list, then repeated later in
  correct sort order. More often than not, trying to access these
  duplicated entries returns an error. Scott's entry doesn't suffer
  from result duplication, but it does ignore URLs, which (judging
  from TidBITS email) are frequently sought items.

  So, although Apple e.g. provides more advanced features for
  finding articles similar to ones in a results list, for pure
  accuracy and relevancy of results, I give the nod to Phantom.

    Accuracy: Ethan Benatan, Frontier and Phantom


**Quantitative Ratings** -- As a final method of differentiating
  the search engines, I asked everyone at TidBITS to list these four
  search engines in order of overall preference. I figured that
  would help include any intangibles that might have slipped through
  the criteria above. I then took the ratings and assigned points,
  one point for the first choice, two for second, three for third,
  and four for fourth. I next added the points for each entrant, and
  ranked the entrants accordingly (like in the cross-country races I
  ran in high school and college). With five people voting, the
  scores could range between 5 and 20. Here's how it came out:

* 6 points: Curt Stevens and Apple e.g.
* 13 points: Ethan Benatan, Frontier and Phantom
* 14 points: Ole Saalmann and David Weingart, Frontier and
  FileMaker
* 17 points: Scott Ribe and WebServer 4D

    Quantitative Ratings: Curt Stevens and Apple e.g.


**And in the End...** I feel terrible having to single out a
  winner. All four entrants have done a fabulous job. Scott knocked
  our socks off with the raw speed of his search engine - keep an
  eye out for when he releases the commercial version of his text
  indexing extension. Ethan showed how he could use Frontier to
  enhance Phantom's already impressive capabilities. Ethan also says
  he's looking for work soon - someone give this man a job! Ole and
  David wanted to make sure Frontier got the exposure it deserves,
  and they put together a great resource despite not knowing each
  other and living on different continents. They're a tribute to the
  spirit of the Internet. Curt wanted to show what Apple's free
  Apple e.g. could do, and frankly, Apple can use all the impressive
  technology demonstrations it can muster.

  In our eyes then, they're all winners. But, we don't need to run
  four separate search engines ourselves, so we plan to implement
  Curt's Apple e.g. solution first because, all other things being
  equal, it seems to be the easiest to merge into our existing
  setup. Should we run into problems, we'll next test both Ethan's
  and Ole and David's solutions. It will probably be easier to try
  Ethan's solution, since it doesn't have to integrate with our
  existing Web server. However, Ole and David's solution might
  dovetail nicely with some other work that Geoff is doing with
  keyword indexing. The final option would be Scott's WebServer 4D
  solution solely because it involves acquiring, installing, and
  learning several new pieces of software. There's no overall
  problem in that, just the reality of how much time and bandwidth
  we have to learn new things.

  Thanks again to all of our entrants!

$$

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TidBITS#381/26-May-97
=====================

  Looking for a new spreadsheet? Don't miss Matt's cheery review of
  Spreadsheet 2000, a user-friendly program with a new take on how a
  spreadsheet should work. This issue also features a close look at
  Apple's recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple's plans for
  the Newton, and details on Global Village's latest foray into
  telecommunications technology.

Topics:
    MailBITS/26-May-97
    Global Village's 56K for PowerBooks
    Yellow Box, Blue Box, Rhapsody & WWDC
    A Spreadsheet for the Millennium

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-381.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#381_26-May-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
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MailBITS/26-May-97
------------------

**Apple Spins Out Newton** -- Last week, Apple announced plans to
  form a subsidiary company based on the Newton group. The new
  company, which doesn't yet have a name or a CEO, will focus on
  "the computing and communications needs of mobile users." At the
  moment, that means the company has two products, the MessagePad
  2000 (see TidBITS-379_) and the eMate 300 (see TidBITS-361_),
  although Apple will continue to support, sell, and market the
  eMate into the education market. Future products will probably
  focus on vertical markets such as health care, sales force
  automation, and field service industries, and the company will
  also seek to create and license new technologies aimed at meeting
  the needs of mobile users. It would be ironic if Apple, in its
  search for a CEO for the new company, considered ex-Apple CEO John
  Sculley, who has the experience and championed the Newton during
  his tenure at Apple. [ACE]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q3/
970522.pr.rel.newton.html>


**TidBITS Still on ZDNet/Mac on CompuServe** -- Kevin Norris of
  ZDNet/Mac tells us that they're continuing to upload TidBITS to
  the ZDNet/Mac Arts & Fun Forum's (GO ZMC:ZMACARTS) Electronic Pubs
  library (#11). He also notes that forum and all of ZDNet are now
  part of CompuServe's Computing Professionals package (GO CPRO).
  So, if you want to download TidBITS from CompuServe rather than
  receive it in email (by subscribing to our mailing list at
  <tidbits-on@tidbits.com>) or visiting our Web site, check out that
  forum. [ACE]

<http://www.tidbits.com/>


Global Village's 56K for PowerBooks
-----------------------------------
   by Mark H. Anbinder <mha@tidbits.com>

  This Tuesday, Global Village Communication will announce a new
  line of PC Card modems and Ethernet/modem combination cards
  offering 56 Kbps telecommunications to laptop users. The new cards
  support the K56flex technology developed by Rockwell and Lucent
  and should reach customers in mid-June.

<http://www.globalvillage.com/>

  The PC Cards will initially support PowerBook 190, 5300-, and
  1400-series computers running System 7.5 or later. Global Village
  plans to ship a free software update in July for PowerBook 3400-
  and 2400-series laptops. Global Village is also releasing a
  parallel pair of modem and Ethernet/modem combo PC Cards for
  Windows 95 laptops - it's the first time the company has offered
  the same products simultaneously for Macintosh and Windows. Both
  cards offer fax capability via the popular GlobalFax software.

  In response to questions about using K56flex technology over the
  competing U.S. Robotics X2 56 Kbps technology, Global Village said
  they had found broader support in the Internet Service Provider
  community for K56flex dialup users, and the same was true in the
  remote access server market dominated by companies like Cisco and
  Shiva. The new modems have a flexible flash ROM and software
  upgradable DSP technology that the company anticipates will allow
  upgrades to whatever 56 Kbps technology emerges as a standard.
  (Global Village Platinum 28.8 Kbps modem owners have been able to
  upgrade at no charge to 33.6 Kbps using updaters.)

<http://www.globalvillage.com/support/software.html>

  The 56K cards use the same external dongle (known as a Clyde) as
  previous Global Village PC Card products to provide telephone and
  10Base-T Ethernet connections. The Clyde also helps protect the
  card from surges and higher line voltages on some digital phone
  systems. The cards support the cellular adapter cables sold for
  Global Village's previous PC Card products. Global Village expects
  street price around $269 for the modem alone; $379 for the
  modem/Ethernet combo cards.

    Global Village Communication -- 800/736-4821 -- 408/523-1000
      408/523-2407 (fax) -- <sales@globalvillage.com>


Yellow Box, Blue Box, Rhapsody & WWDC
-------------------------------------
  by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>

  Every year, Apple puts on the Worldwide Developers Conference
  (WWDC), a pricey technical get-together for serious Macintosh
  programmers. Unlike trade shows such as Macworld Expo, WWDC isn't
  packed with hundreds of vendors; bag-carrying, button-clad
  attendees; and stages awash with marketers, headset microphones,
  and plenty of styling gel. Instead, WWDC is a chance for
  programmers to learn about Apple's future technologies and
  directions, ask questions, and let Apple know what they're
  thinking. Developers are Apple's toughest audience - they're least
  likely to be influenced by promises, and most likely to require
  tangible proof of claims. WWDC is never easy from Apple's point of
  view.

  What's more, Apple hasn't had a great year. In the wake of Apple's
  financial troubles and the acquisition of NeXT, speculation was
  high and expectations were low for this year's WWDC. No one knew
  what Apple would bring to the table, and many developers have had
  their faith shaken by Apple's recent layoffs, technology freezes,
  and the ascendence of NeXT executives who seem to hold the fate of
  the Macintosh in their hands.


**Rhapsody & Yellow Box** -- One thing everyone at WWDC wanted to
  see and hear about was Rhapsody, Apple's forthcoming operating
  system based in part on technologies acquired from NeXT. Apple
  delivered on that expectation, surprising many attendees with
  demos of the Yellow Box, the environment derived from OpenStep
  that will occupy center stage under Rhapsody. The Yellow Box was
  shown on both PowerPC and Intel hardware including an Intel demo
  of the shoot-em-up game Quake (writing to the Yellow Box's Display
  PostScript while playing movies in the background), plus PowerPC
  demos of QuickDraw 3D and a commercial application from Stone
  Design ported from OpenStep in only a few days. Apple wanted to
  prove one thing: they had running code, not just promises. The
  Unix command line was also seen (to hisses from some attendees),
  but Apple stressed it will be hidden in Rhapsody's Unified
  release, available only if users want it. The Yellow Box interface
  was described as a work in progress, but it already bears some
  resemblance to the Mac.

  Although the Yellow Box derives directly from OpenStep and
  includes NeXT standbys like Display PostScript and Unicode
  conversion, Apple plans to add several Macintosh technologies,
  including the QuickTime Media Layer (QTML), QuickTime VR,
  QuickDraw 3D, ColorSync, QuickDraw GX typography, and the V-Twin
  text indexing engine (on which Apple e.g. is based). Although it's
  too early to tell what this means, Apple also said all
  applications built for the Yellow Box will have some
  scriptability, and Yellow Box scripting would be carried as far as
  possible toward AppleScript. The Yellow Box will also include
  NeXT's much-touted WebObjects FrameWorks and Java.

  Apple confirmed it plans to ship a version of Rhapsody for
  computers based on Intel chips; however (and this was arguably the
  big announcement for WWDC), Apple also announced it will ship a
  version of the Yellow Box for Mac OS.

  To understand this, think of the Yellow Box as an application
  environment, like its predecessor OpenStep, rather than as a
  component of Rhapsody's larger operating system. Yellow Boxes for
  Intel and Mac OS would in theory make the Yellow Box the premiere
  choice for cross-platform development, because developers could
  deliver applications that run on Rhapsody (both PowerPC and
  Intel), Mac OS, Windows NT, and Windows 95 - all using tools
  derived from NeXT's highly regarded, object-oriented development
  environment. According to Apple, an application written for the
  Yellow Box can simply be recompiled for a different platform, or
  even shipped as a single, large file containing executable code
  for multiple platforms. (Aladdin's Leonard Rosenthol referred to
  these programs as "obese binaries.") To hammer home the idea,
  Apple also announced no-fee licensing of the technology that
  allows the Yellow Box to run on top of Windows, so deploying
  Yellow Box applications for Windows won't cost developers extra.

  A version of the Yellow Box for the Mac OS is also an intriguing
  carrot for some developers. In theory, this would allow users
  running today's Mac OS (or future versions, such as Mac OS 8 or
  Allegro) to run Yellow Box applications without switching over to
  Rhapsody. Although no schedule was given and there are serious
  questions about what subset of the Yellow Box can be supported
  under Mac OS (threading was mentioned as a significant issue, and
  symmetric multiprocessing is right out), the ability to run some
  Yellow Box applications under Mac OS may help alleviate transition
  fears and give Yellow Box applications a wider market.


**Rhapsody & Blue Box** -- Apple also demonstrated Rhapsody's Blue
  Box running a beta of Mac OS 8, and hosted hands-on labs where
  developers could run Mac OS programs under Rhapsody's Blue Box.
  According to Apple, only five of about 500 programs tested in the
  WWDC labs failed due to errors with the Blue Box.

  The Blue Box is essentially a Yellow Box application designed to
  run under Rhapsody for PowerPC. (Rhapsody for Intel will not
  include the Blue Box.) The Blue Box uses a Mac ROM image to run
  the Mac OS unmodified, so users can run unaltered Mac OS
  applications and system enhancements with much more compatibility
  than Copland would have provided. The Blue Box should inherit
  benefits from Rhapsody, including enhanced virtual memory and I/O
  improvements. Although Mac applications will not get separate
  protected memory, crashing the Blue Box will not take down
  Rhapsody. However, as an application, the Blue Box will run in its
  own window, and Mac applications will not sit in the same screen
  space as Yellow Box applications. Blue Box programs will be able
  to communicate with the Yellow Box via Apple events and more
  traditional mechanisms like the clipboard, but there will be a
  firm line between the Mac OS and the Yellow Box. The Blue Box will
  be able to run in a full-screen mode (and Apple reps noted this
  included _all_ screens), but I have the impression using the Blue
  Box will be like peering through a magnifying glass at your old
  Macintosh.


**Java** -- During the WWDC keynote, new Senior VP of Software
  Engineering Avie Tevanian called Java Apple's biggest opportunity.
  It's not clear how many Apple developers share that opinion, but
  Apple proved it can make grand statements about Java as well as
  the next software company, announcing support for the Java
  Foundation Classes under development by Sun, Netscape, and IBM,
  and simultaneously announcing Java would have full access to
  Yellow Box APIs, thereby making it possible to write Yellow Box
  applications without resorting to Objective C or other programming
  languages. Although Apple stressed its commitment to "100 percent
  pure Java," it also stressed access to the Yellow Box would allow
  developers to deploy best-of-class Java applications, which sounds
  similar to what Microsoft tells developers about its competing
  Application Foundation Classes for Java.


**The Rhapsody Schedule** -- Currently, the Rhapsody schedule
  calls for a developer release in mid-1997 (with no Blue Box, and
  probably only supporting Power Mac 8500/8600 machines), a Premiere
  release for early adopters in early 1998 with some Blue Box
  capability for PowerPC, and a Unified release for general users in
  mid-1998 with full Blue Box capability for PowerPC. Apple plans to
  ship client and server versions of Rhapsody and has stated that
  the Unified release will work on today's PowerPC-based Macs and
  Mac clones.


**The Spin** -- There's no doubt that Rhapsody's potential is
  compelling. Developers and conference attendees I spoke with were
  generally surprised with Apple's progress so far, although
  opinions differed radically as to whether Apple could deliver on
  its ambitious schedule. For some developers, Rhapsody is simply
  too late: they needed mature cross-platform development tools over
  a year ago, not a promise they'll be available a year from now. On
  the other hand, some developers seemed incredibly energized by
  Apple's plans, including some makers of low-level tools and
  utilities for whom Rhapsody is an enormous technical challenge.

  However, the gulf between NeXT and Apple cultures is still
  apparent. Steve Jobs managed to insult or offend many Mac
  developers in his WWDC fireside chat, and occasional comments from
  former NeXT employees during WWDC sessions highlighted the
  differences. This is an over-generalization, but NeXT customers
  tend to deal with high-end, often corporate environments with
  abundant bandwidth and CPU resources, while Mac customers are
  possessive about their machines and are more likely to think about
  sharing a single CD-ROM drive across a high school's LocalTalk
  network. Whether a healthy medium can be achieved in either
  Apple's software engineering teams or Rhapsody remains to be seen.

  For more details and announcements from WWDC, check Apple's
  Developer World site; WWDC Webcasts are available until 31-May-97.
  John Norstad has also posted excellent notes on Rhapsody based on
  what he learned at WWDC.

<http://devworld.apple.com/>
<http://charlotte.acns.nwu.edu/jln/wwdc97.html>


A Spreadsheet for the Millennium
--------------------------------
  by Matt Neuburg <matt@tidbits.com>

  At a time when Apple and the Macintosh seem to be whirling in
  fragments around my head, the release of Spreadsheet 2000 from
  Casady & Greene has given my spirits a much needed lift. It is a
  powerful, flexible, interesting way to store and retrieve
  information (in this case, numerical information, along with
  calculations). That, as longtime TidBITS readers know, goes right
  to the heart of what I want from my Mac. The light-hearted
  interface shows that there is still room for originality on the
  Mac. It is easy to learn: you do the tutorials, you grok the
  metaphor, and from then on it's completely intuitive. It was
  basically written by Steve Wilson of Emergent Behavior,
  reaffirming the place of small developers. And, the fact that
  Spreadsheet 2000 was written with Prograph CPX, my favorite Mac
  development environment (see TidBITS-312_), is a delightful bonus.

<http://www.casadyg.com/C&G/Welcome.html>

  Spreadsheet 2000, officially abbreviated S2K, is actually version
  2.0 of Let's Keep It Simple Spreadsheet, officially abbreviated
  Let's KISS, or LKISS, or just plain KISS.


**Go With the Dataflow** -- A spreadsheet is a place where,
  typically, numbers live, some of which are the result of live
  calculations using others. For instance, in recording a budget,
  altering or adding a figure in a column of food-related
  expenditures for the month might automatically change entries for
  the month's food total, the month's grand total, and the year-to-
  date grand total.

  In most spreadsheet programs, this is done through hidden
  formulas. You are presented with a blank grid of cells, into each
  of which you can put either a number or a formula describing a
  calculation based on other cells. A cell containing a formula,
  though, shows only the result of the formula's calculation. That
  number can then be used in still other formulas, and so on. This
  means that you must learn a formula language, which is often
  difficult. More important, it means that a spreadsheet is hard to
  explore and easy to harm: since you cannot usually see the
  formulas (and even when you can, it is hard to trace a cell's
  formulaic dependencies), you may accidentally make a change that
  causes a formula to give a bad result, or one that overwrites a
  formula altogether.

  Spreadsheet 2000 is nothing like this. Instead, you are presented
  with a completely empty window. Into this window you place, by
  drag & drop from palettes, any of a number of objects, and by
  dragging arrange them as you like, much as in a drawing program.
  These objects are principally either rectangular grids of cells,
  or operators (such as "+", "*", "avg", and so on) represented as
  small named rectangular panels. You then click to draw connecting
  lines leading from grids to operators, and from operators to other
  grids ("output" grids). You can put numbers into the cells of
  grids - but not if they are output grids (output grids
  automatically take on a different color). So, the results of
  calculations are specially marked and automatically protected.
  Also, the structure of each calculation is visible as a physical
  flow of data: from an input grid or grids, through an operator, to
  an output grid.

  The chain of grid-operator-grid can be extended as long you like;
  a grid may serve as input to more than one operator, and an
  operator may require input from more than one grid. To prevent a
  clutter of such chains from tangling up like spaghetti, you can
  select a segment of chain and "crunch" it, replacing it by a
  single custom operator. If you double-click the custom operator,
  an edit window opens and displays the grids and operators you
  crunched. You can work in this edit window, rearranging elements,
  altering data, modifying calculations, and even crunching segments
  of chain within it, too. By judicious naming and arrangement of
  crunched custom operators, you can create visual calculation
  structures which remain neat and easy to understand; yet the
  details remain available by quickly drilling down, opening the
  edit windows of custom operators to any desired level.

  Spreadsheet 2000 also provides a second way to avoid clutter. This
  is called a report, though I prefer to think of it as a view,
  since it's really another way of looking at particular portions of
  your data. The main window (called the Master) is replaced by one
  containing just a designated subset of elements: typically, one
  window might show two or three chief grids, with no operators or
  connections at all. A document can have many different named
  reports, listed in a Report menu, and at any given moment you see
  either one report or the Master (which is another reason I call
  them views). How you use reports is up to you. You can enter data
  in a report, so when a calculation involves a lot of bits of data,
  multiple reports can provide multiple entry forms. They are also
  good places to summarize the grand results of a calculation.

  I mentioned earlier that spreadsheet elements are added by drag &
  drop from palettes. You may create your own palettes to store
  elements you might need later (libraries, in other words). Such
  elements might range from a complicated, crunched custom
  calculation that generates histogram information to a simple,
  frequently needed grid of data or an empty 12-row grid labelled
  with the names of the months.

  Spreadsheets can also contain special elements, such as charts
  that automatically show simple but effective graphs of any grid
  connected to them. There are also notes - simple text rectangles
  useful for placing comments and instructions - and graphics. These
  can all be arranged as desired, of course.


**True Grid** -- All data entry and display is, as already stated,
  by way of grids. You can type data directly into a grid cell, and
  of course you can cut and paste data between grids and another
  applications (S2K does some intelligent processing of clipboard
  contents); you can also export grid data as tab-delimited text
  files.

  A grid can be resized to any rectangular dimensions in terms of
  the cells it contains: it can be a single cell, a single column, a
  single row, or a full rectangle. Labels can be attached to any
  grid's top, side, or both, letting you specify what each column or
  row denotes; with output grids you can attach labels yourself, or
  tell an operator to allow its input's labels to "flow through," so
  that the operator's output grid reproduces them.

  The display of numeric data can be formatted by dragging &
  dropping a formatting icon onto it; various basic formatting icons
  live in a toolbar at the top of the screen, or you can tear off a
  formatting palette which lets you be more specific about things
  like the number of decimal places to be displayed. Text formatting
  works similarly, or you can choose from a Text menu. S2K enforces
  formatting consistency: you can numerically format a whole grid or
  selected columns, or textually format a whole grid or all top or
  side labels, but not individual cells.

  One of Spreadsheet 2000's cleverest features is the intelligent
  behavior of its operators with respect to grids. Take, for
  example, the "+" operator: what it does depends on the shape you
  give its output grid. Imagine you have a 5-by-4 grid of numbers
  connected into a "+" operator. If the "+" operator is then
  connected to a single-cell grid, that cell will display the sum of
  all 20 input cells. If it is connected to a single-row grid, that
  grid is automatically resized to 5-by-1, and displays the sum of
  each column of the input. If it is connected to a single-column
  grid, that grid is automatically resized to 1-by-4, and displays
  the sum of each row of the input.

  Other operators that take multiple inputs react to the shapes of
  those inputs. For instance, the "A+B" operator, which adds two
  inputs, will add two single-column grids by making the output a
  single column each of whose cells contains the sum of the
  corresponding pair of cells. It will add a rectangle grid to a
  single-column grid by making a rectangle grid, summing
  corresponding pairs of cells one column at a time. It will add a
  single-column grid to a single-row grid by making a rectangle
  grid, each cell containing one of the possible sums of pairs. And
  so on.

  The extraordinary thing is that, although this sounds very
  involved when I describe it, in action it is immediately obvious
  and intuitive. S2K gives you a sense of doing the right thing, of
  knowing what you mean (often better than you do yourself!).


**Spreadsheet Icing** -- Native operators include standard numeric
  functions (arithmetic, trigonometric, exponential, rounding), and
  "form" operators act as a shortcut in the composition of
  elementary algebraic expressions; basic statistical functions
  (such as average and standard deviation) are included too. Grid
  operators let you count cells, columns, and rows; combine or
  decompose grids; copy, rotate, and sort grids; and extract grid
  parts by various match criteria. Logical operators let you perform
  Boolean tests and even build "if-then-else" constructs. Loop
  operators generate automatic fill data, and let you construct
  cumulatively computed output grids (such as a running bank
  balance).

  These operators turn out to be sufficient for most needs; the
  trick, when you want to build a new function, is getting used to
  the dataflow model, which works differently from an algebraic
  language. To help you, a large selection of pre-built custom
  operators is included; these can be used as shortcuts, and (being
  constructed from the native operators) they are also valuable
  study models. They range from simple unit conversions and physical
  constants to arithmetic representations of complex numbers,
  polynomial roots, primeness test, Fibonacci series, pseudo-random
  number generation, linear regression, and various financial
  operators - enough to prove that S2K's dataflow language is pretty
  powerful (especially considering its lack of recursion).

  Many model solutions are also included in the form of stationery
  and other files. Again, the wide range testifies to Spreadsheet
  2000's power: break-even and depreciation, budget and car leasing,
  triangle solution, Fourier sine wave addition, numeric integration
  by Simpson's rule, a gradebook, even baseball statistics. More
  user-created templates can be found on Casady & Greene's Web site.

<http://www.casadyg.com/C&G/Products/spreadsheet_2000/Solutions/
solutions.html>

  The manual, unfortunately, fails to document any of this (except
  for the native operators). Otherwise, though, it is quite nice: it
  consists mostly of chatty tutorials and general advice, followed
  by some lightly written reference material, which is all you need
  because the program is easy to use once you've done the tutorials.
  There is also good balloon help, plus some Apple Guides.


**The Magic Draggin'** -- If I have one overall complaint about
  Spreadsheet 2000, it is that the program is strongly mouse-
  oriented. I like dragging & dropping as much as the next person
  (and S2K's optional sound effects add to the fun), but the program
  calls for more physical dexterity than I possess and more reaching
  hither and yon than I have patience for.

  I've made this and several other suggestions to S2K author Steve
  Wilson - such things as having crunched operators' edit windows
  remember their size and position next time they're opened, and an
  optional dialog to make it easier to size a grid. His receptive
  attitude suggests that, with constructive suggestions from users,
  S2K's future incarnations will be even better.

  Having exhausted my feeble supply of negatives, I'll reiterate:
  Spreadsheet 2000 is a fine program. It seems rock solid (I haven't
  been able to make it choke or crash); its behavior is intuitive
  and convenient. It has those direct, simple, Mac-defining
  qualities that come along once in a blue moon, giving it the
  potential to be a classic. It performs a powerful, basic function,
  yet is easy to learn, and satisfying and fun to use. In my opinion
  it is the everyday spreadsheet that every Mac owner must have.


**Hot Off the Grid** -- A splendid QuickTime movie showing S2K in
  action can be found on Casady & Greene's Web site (200K), along
  with demo versions of S2K for both 68K and PowerPC-based Macs (a
  little over 2 MB):

<http://www.casadyg.com/C&G/Products/spreadsheet_2000/S2Kmov.html>

  In our checking, the street price for Spreadsheet 2000 ranged from
  $60 to $75, and there's currently a $30 rebate if you own another
  spreadsheet. The LKISS upgrade is $20 (free if purchased in 1997).

<http://www.casadyg.com/C&G/Products/spreadsheet_2000/description.html>


**DealBITS** -- Through the URL below, Cyberian Outpost is
  offering TidBITS readers Spreadsheet 2000 for $54.95, which is $5
  off the standard price.

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/spreadsheet-2000.html>



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TidBITS#382/02-Jun-97
=====================

  Tune in this week for a review of the popular email client program
  Claris Emailer 2.0, plus Adam's thoughts on the benefits of
  smaller Mac fairs in comparison to large trade shows. Also, we
  note the need for ongoing vigilance against Macintosh viruses,
  welcome a Portuguese TidBITS translation, give pointers to an
  Apple Internet Solutions guide, and offer news on NetObjects
  Fusion and upgrading some Global Village modem cards.

Topics:
    MailBITS/02-Jun-97
    The Little Mac Fairs
    Wrestling in the Global Village
    Email Reliance: Emailer 2.0

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-382.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1997/TidBITS#382_02-Jun-97.etx>

Copyright 1997 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
   Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <sales@apstech.com>
   Makers of M*Power Mac OS compatibles & premium storage devices.
   APS price lists: <http://www.apstech.com/aps-products.html>

* Northwest Nexus -- 800/539-3505 -- <http://www.nwnexus.com/>
   Professional Internet Services. <info@nwnexus.com>

* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <info@powercc.com>
   PowerTower Pro 225 MHz - the fastest desktop system ever.
   Build Your Own Box online! <http://www.powercc.com/>

* Aladdin Systems -- 408/761-6200 -- <http://www.aladdinsys.com/>
   Makers of StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, the Mac compression standard, and
   InstallerMaker 3.1.3, the leading installer for Mac developers.

* Small Dog Electronics -- Special deal for TidBITS Readers! <----- NEW!
   NEW Message Pad 2000 with keyboard, spreadsheet and case: $1049
   More Info: <http://www.smalldoggy.com/#tid> -- 802/496-7171

* StarNine Technologies -- 800/525-2580 -- <info@starnine.com>
   Top Internet tools: WebSTAR, WebCollage, ListSTAR, and more.
   WebCollage is shipping! <http://www.starnine.com/webcollage/>

* MacWorks -- 800/463-1026 -- <sales@macworks.com> <--------------- NEW!
   CLOSEOUT SPECIAL: Limited quantity of Apple 604/120, only $49
   More Info: <http://www.macworks.com/>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

MailBITS/02-Jun-97
------------------

**Virus Complacency** -- Though there are few Macintosh viruses
  (especially in comparison to the PC world), in the last few weeks
  I've received several reports of virus-infected CD-ROMs or files
  (the most recent one an upload caught by alert Info-Mac archivist
  Michael Bean). Although all the viruses were old and easily
  handled by John Norstad's free Disinfectant 3.6, I believe many
  Macintosh users have been lulled into complacency by the minimal
  virus problems of late. In addition, many people have become Mac
  users in the last few years, and thus missed the era when most
  Macintosh viruses appeared. Most existing Macintosh viruses aren't
  particularly dangerous, but it's always worth running an anti-
  virus program. For more information on the different viruses, read
  Disinfectant's excellent online manual by selecting Disinfectant
  Help from the Apple menu. If you feel like spending money (we at
  TidBITS recommend and use Disinfectant), check out commercial
  virus protection software like Symantec AntiVirus for Macintosh
  and Datawatch's Virex for Macintosh. [ACE]

<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/tisk/util/disinfectant-36.hqx>
<http://www.symantec.com/sam/index.html>
<http://www.datawatch.com/virex.shtml>


**TidBITS in Portuguese!** We're especially pleased to welcome our
  latest translation of TidBITS, this time into Portuguese. If you
  or someone you know would prefer to read TidBITS in Portuguese,
  check out the Web page below. Special thanks are due to Henrique
  Penha <hpenha@qmail.com>, who put together a team of six
  translators and is coordinating the effort. More volunteers would
  be extremely welcome, so if you're interested in helping, send
  Henrique email.

  As always, let me know at <ace@tidbits.com> if you want to help
  with any TidBITS translation. We've had some interest in Italian
  and Russian translations but have lacked either a strong
  coordinator to get things rolling or enough translators to make
  the amount of work manageable. [ACE]

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/lang/pt/>


**New Fusion Version** -- NetObjects Fusion 1.0, software for
  creating Web sites, shipped in late 1996 and blazed new ground
  with its site-centric emphasis, including easily changed site
  styles for text, graphics, and navigation bars. Like the soon-to-
  be-released Adobe SiteMill 2.0 (look for more information next
  week), Fusion makes it easy to modify a site's structure, and like
  the recently-released CyberStudio 1.0 from GoLive Systems (see
  TidBITS-376_), NetObjects Fusion used tables behind the scenes to
  enable users to place objects on Web pages freely.

  Great ideas take time to refine into practical implementations,
  and last week NetObjects shipped Fusion 2.0, a new version that -
  by way of a casual look - has matured significantly. The new
  version has many new features including a spelling checker,
  support for Macintosh drag & drop, better support for frames, and
  the capability to import existing sites as a whole, instead of
  page-by-page. A 30-day trial version is available (as a 14.5 MB
  download) from the NetObjects Web site.

<http://www.netobjects.com/downloads/softwaredownload.html>

  Fusion 2.0 is still rather stout: the new version requires a
  PowerPC-based Macintosh, wants 16 MB application RAM, and a full
  install takes a startling 90 MB of disk space. The expected retail
  price for Fusion 2.0 is $495; inside the box is a coupon for a
  $100 rebate, good through 31-Jul-97. NetObjects -- 415/482-3200 --
  415/562-0288 (fax) -- <sales@netobjects.com> [TJE]


**Macintosh Internet Solutions Resource** -- Starfish
  Technologies, an Australian consulting firm specializing in Mac
  OS, Unix, and internetworking, has prepared a useful overview to
  Macintosh Internet solutions. Originally commissioned for use by
  Apple resellers in Australia, Apple Australia has made the guide
  available for anyone needing solid information about Macs and the
  Internet. It's great to see Apple's overseas divisions
  contributing to the international Macintosh community in this way.
  Software developers who wish to have their Internet-related
  products (commercial, shareware, or freeware) included should
  contact <netguide@starfish.net.au>, and anyone interested in other
  comprehensive collections of Macintosh Internet resources should
  check out the Web sites below. [ACE]

<http://www.apple.com.au/GSAIS/>
<http://www.starfish.net.au/>
<http://host.comvista.com/Internet.tfm>
<http://www.netprolive.com/products/productDefault.html>
<http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/~wronkiew/macos_servers/>


The Little Mac Fairs
--------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>

  Recently, Tonya and I have attended and spoken at two relatively
  small Macintosh fairs, BMUG's one-day MacFest in Berkeley and
  LAMG's two-day MacFair in Los Angeles. Both have been around for a
  number of years, and both were obviously extremely popular, given
  the crowds (BMUG's MacFest hit 7,500 in attendance). Afterwards,
  we found ourselves comparing them favorably to the full-bore
  Macworld Expos in San Francisco and Boston.

<http://www.lamg.org/>
<http://www.bmug.org/>


**Macworld Expo Overload** -- Macworld Expos are no longer as
  necessary for learning about new products, in large part because
  the Internet has improved communications about those new products.
  It's occasionally useful to see a demo, but I can generally learn
  more in 15 minutes on my own than by watching a typical hour-long
  demonstration. The conferences at Macworld Expos can be
  worthwhile, but, since speakers aren't paid, the quality ranges
  widely. And, let's face it, Macworld Expos are incredibly
  draining. You're on your feet in a large city for 16 hours a day
  for three or four days, and there's just too much stimulation.
  Everyone's shouting, everyone wants you to see their products, try
  their products, buy their products, and you can't even walk on the
  streets without having Expo-related brochures shoved in your
  hands.

  Sure, going to a Macworld Expo is a thrill, but many of us have
  figured out better and cheaper ways to get our thrills that don't
  involve injury to the lower extremities. At computer shows I'm
  more interested in meeting people, catching up with email friends,
  chatting with people who read TidBITS or my books, and generally
  getting out a little, something us work-at-home types don't do all
  that often.


**The Small Fair Solution** -- For those purposes, smaller
  regional Macintosh fairs turn out to be just the ticket. The show
  floors occupy the space of a large hotel ballroom, not the dual
  halls of San Francisco's Moscone Center, which are roughly the
  size of Rhode Island (and don't get me started about travelling
  between the vast halls at the World Trade Center and Bayside in
  Boston). The regional shows have plenty of people, but not so many
  that your personal space is constantly compromised. It's easy to
  walk the floor at these smaller shows and spend time at each
  booth, or to browse through quickly looking for someone. The
  booths tend to be relatively spartan, which is refreshing after
  the expensive, often spurious extravagance of Macworld Expo
  booths. John O'Fallon, president of Maxum Development, concurred,
  saying, "Putting everyone in a simple 10' by 10' booth without a
  lot of glitz is nice. It keeps the cost down and lets everyone
  focus on products instead of stage shows."

<http://www.maxum.com/>

  Better yet, the booths are often staffed by people who know
  something, another pleasant change from the well-groomed, yet
  frequently clueless marketing denizens of Macworld Expos. That's
  in part due to the preponderance of smaller companies at the
  smaller fairs, but both shows had representatives from larger
  companies as well, including Apple. Sheer numbers of vendors don't
  compare to Macworld Expos, but even still, MacFest sported 43
  vendors this year, and hopes to hit 50 next year. My impression
  was that LAMG's MacFair had even more vendors on its somewhat
  larger show floor.

  The vendors I spoke with afterwards, including folks from Maxum
  Development, APS Technologies, Sonic Systems, and Dantz
  Development, seemed happy with the response they'd gotten,
  although the user group audience wasn't always a perfect mesh. As
  John O'Fallon noted, "User group members don't buy Internet
  servers as often as business customers, not surprisingly. We'll be
  watching for similar small shows with emphasis on business or the
  Internet. There are several of these we have done already
  (Mactivity, StrictlyBusiness) with varying degrees of success."

  Another nice aspect of the small user group fairs that we attended
  was that they were inexpensive, not just for vendors, but also for
  attendees. Conferences can easily cost $200 to $800 these days,
  and that's before travel and hotel costs. BMUG's MacFest was free
  to the public, although they requested a $5 donation. LAMG's
  MacFair wasn't free, but it was inexpensive in comparison with
  Macworld Expos, which cost may only $25 for access to the floor
  but $170 for access to the conferences, keynotes and sessions (all
  of which were included at MacFair). Despite being inexpensive,
  both BMUG and LAMG were extremely pleased with the financial boost
  the fairs provided.


**Some Thoughts** -- I mentioned this topic while chatting at my
  favorite local Macintosh dealer, Westwind Computing, and the
  president immediately expressed interest in having a fair here in
  Seattle. Needless to say, he wasn't up for organizing it on his
  own, but volunteered on the spot to help line up vendors. With
  some coordination from dBUG, the local Macintosh users group, and
  the local Apple office, a small local Mac fair in Seattle isn't
  inconceivable. And, if BMUG and LAMG can put on these kind of
  fairs, and merely mentioning the possibility in Seattle can
  produce such a reaction, I can only assume that other parts of the
  country and the world could do the same. Each show would carry the
  flavor of the group that organized it, so some might focus more on
  desktop and high-end publishing, whereas others might be more
  Internet-related.

<http://www.westwind.com/>
<http://www.dbug.org/>

  These fairs need not be difficult to put on. Colleen Miller of
  BMUG noted that organizing MacFest didn't require a massive staff.
  "I put the entire thing on myself with the help of Sean O'Connor
  and, on the day of the event, numerous volunteers. Just about
  everything went smoothly. The key to running such an event is
  starting early and making sure you're incredibly organized. Also,
  press, marketing, and a combination of big name companies and new,
  cutting edge companies are key to making sure you get attendance."

  I don't want to imply that the huge Macworld Expos don't have
  their place. Bringing together tens of thousands of Macintosh
  users and hundreds of vendors is useful. The big shows help
  vendors meet distributors outside the U.S., network with other
  developers, and get in front of the press (although I think the
  traditional press would appreciate the smaller fairs if complaints
  from fellow journalists are any indication). However, a short,
  sweet, small Mac fair can be a breath of fresh air. As Colleen
  Miller said, "Accessibility, cost, and a general feeling of
  camaraderie make the smaller events much better."


Wrestling in the Global Village
-------------------------------
  by Glenn Fleishman <glenn@popco.com>

  I recently spent some time wrestling with software upgrades, and
  discovered some hidden morsels in a couple of Global Village
  downloads. Although some of these enhancements have been available
  for a while, I chose to wait and bulk-update my PowerBook in one
  session. If you use a PowerPort Platinum or Platinum Pro PC card,
  Global Village has a firmware update that upgrades the 28.8 Kbps
  modem to 33.6 Kbps. Additionally, they've released a beta version
  of the PowerPort PC Card control panel that temporarily fixes a
  "port busy" error when using Open Transport/PPP (see
  TidBITS-354_). The following assumes you're using Open Transport
  1.1 (1.1.2 is the latest version) and System 7.5.5 or later.

<http://www.globalvillage.com/support/swlocator/pplocator.html>


**PC Card Updater** -- The PowerPort PC Card update is a 1.2 MB
  download containing an application that updates the PC Card's
  firmware. Firmware is software that lives in some kind of
  persistent memory; unlike RAM, turning off electricity doesn't
  erase the contents, but (unlike ROM) applying certain charges or
  triggering a pin on the chip allows new code to be installed. The
  new Global Village firmware adds the protocols and routines
  necessary to support 33.6 Kbps modem speeds - that is, if you have
  a phone line and provider that can support it. (Now that I'm
  updated, I get 31.2 Kbps consistently, which is almost 10 percent
  faster than 28.8 Kbps).

  If you use OT/PPP (which I highly recommend), the 33.6 Kbps update
  also comes with a modem script that you must use. Copy the script
  "GV 28.8/33.6 for ARA 2.1/OT-PPP" to the Modem Scripts folder in
  your Extensions folder, and then use the Modem control panel to
  select the new script. Otherwise, OT/PPP will not recognize the
  new speed and won't initiate PPP correctly.

<http://devworld.apple.com/dev/opentransport/ppp.html>


**PC Card OT/PPP Beta** -- The beta PowerPort PC Card control
  panel fixes the "port busy" problem that's been reported
  frequently by folks using the PowerPort PC Card with OT/PPP.
  Essentially, the problem causes the Mac OS to think another
  application is using the serial port, which prevents you from
  using your modem. I've had this problem for months off and on, and
  the only solution I found was to turn off RAM Doubler 2 (or vary
  the amount of extra RAM it was adding) and reboot. Although the
  port problem has nothing to do with Connectix's software, this
  worked fairly consistently for me. The new PowerPort PC Card
  control panel has alleviated this problem for me entirely.


**Snooze & Lose** -- Even though I've given Global Village my
  email address with multiple product registrations, I never
  received email notification of either piece of software, both of
  which are available free of charge. This seems like a missed
  opportunity for Global Village; I was ecstatic to get a free
  update that gave me 33.6 Kbps capability, and being able to access
  my serial port consistently without rebooting is a godsend. In the
  future, I hope Global Village will take advantage of its customer
  email lists to notify us of tremendous time savers like these two
  downloads. I'm pulling out less hair already.


Email Reliance: Emailer 2.0
---------------------------
  by Jeff Carlson <jeffc@tidbits.com>

  I'm surprised at how much I rely on electronic mail. What used to
  be just another method of communicating has become my main link to
  the outside world, my to-do list, and a searchable database of
  projects. On top of that, email enables me to communicate
  regularly (and inexpensively) with my mother in Sacramento,
  California, my father in Redmond, Washington, and a collection of
  friends around the world.

  This reliance on electronic communication calls for heavy-duty
  email software. After using Claris Emailer 1.1v3 for a year and
  living with some of its limitations, I was eager to try Emailer
  2.0. What I've discovered since is a full-featured program with
  few shortcomings.

<http://www.claris.com/products/claris/emailer/>


**A Brief Overview** -- The great benefit of using Emailer when it
  first came out was its capability to handle multiple email
  accounts. Although one America Online account may be fine for a
  beginning user, more people now access and manage email from
  multiple sources. Emailer allows you to send and receive standard
  Internet mail using POP and SMTP, plus email via CompuServe, AOL,
  the now-defunct Claris OfficeMail, and RadioMail.

  Emailer not only lets you connect to any combination of the above
  at once (including multiple addresses on any service) but also
  lets you schedule unattended mail checks. Impatient types can set
  Emailer to check for mail every two minutes, while calmer users
  can schedule bulk sends and receives in the middle of the night,
  or even at designated times on certain days.

  Emailer offers a range of encoding and compression options for
  sending attachments to other computers using different operating
  systems. Email messages can be composed offline for later
  transmission, or saved as drafts until you're ready to send them.
  Emailer also supports Internet Config, which stores your main
  Internet settings in one location accessible by a number of
  applications (like Anarchie and Microsoft Internet Explorer).

<http://www.quinn.echidna.id.au/Quinn/Config/>


**My Hard Drive is Back!** One of the biggest shortcomings of
  Emailer 1.x is the way it stores messages. It saves each message
  as an individual file, which can inadvertently consume a huge
  chunk of disk space. The Mac file system divides a hard disk into
  64,000-odd pieces, each of which can be occupied by only one file,
  or one part of a larger file. On a sizable hard disk (say, 2 GB),
  that means the _minimum_ amount of space allocated for any file is
  32K - even if that file contains only one character! If you have
  hundreds (or thousands) of small files, that lost space adds up
  quickly. And if you store hundreds of messages in Emailer 1.x, you
  might start to believe that a 2 GB hard disk isn't very large.

  Emailer 2.0 saves all mail in a main Mail Database file, with a
  Mail Index file that tracks it. After upgrading to 2.0, a friend
  of mine reported that he reclaimed about 85 MB from the reduced
  file overhead alone!

  Storing messages in a centralized database also improves
  performance, since Emailer must open and close far fewer files.
  Emailer 2.0 can perform multiple simultaneous searches for words,
  and although the search speed isn't as fast as I would like, I no
  longer have to go make coffee while conducting search.

  If you switch from 1.x to 2.0, I cannot stress too highly the
  importance of making a backup of your mail files and reading the
  instructions that come with the program. If you don't follow them
  to the letter, you may lose data.

  For me, the only problem the switch has caused involves
  synchronizing my mail between the PowerBook and my desktop
  machine. Where before I had to copy only the added or changed
  email files, usually no more than 20K each, now I must copy one 25
  MB mail database each time. Since I regularly synchronize the two
  machines, I bought a relatively inexpensive 4-port network hub to
  create a two-machine Ethernet network at home.


**Adjusting to the New Look** -- Because I had grown comfortable
  with the interface in Emailer 1.x, the split-window approach of
  version 2.0 required some adjustment on my part. Along its left
  side, the main Browser window displays folders such as In Box and
  Out Box, plus user-created folders; the contents of the selected
  folder show on the right. On smaller screens this can feel
  cramped, requiring experimentation with resizing the message
  columns - Subject, From/To, Date, Priority - and the vertical bar
  separating the two main sections. If you prefer to not have email
  folders and messages parceled within the Browser, you can also
  open folders as their own windows.

  Emailer also has a floating Toolbar window containing buttons for
  common commands and a floating Connection Status window. For users
  who don't want to interpret icons, positioning the cursor over a
  button displays a label that names the button. I'm more oriented
  toward keyboard shortcuts, so I chose to reclaim precious screen
  real estate by hiding the Toolbar.

  Emailer's new interface has dozens of smaller adjustments that
  demonstrate the engineers at Claris thought about how people use
  the product. For example, managing multiple accounts is now
  easier. Under Emailer 1.x, if I wanted to send a message to a
  number of people from <jeff@necoffee.com> instead of
  <jeffc@tidbits.com>, I had to specify my From address manually for
  each recipient. In version 2.0, a single pop-up menu allows me to
  choose from which account all the recipients will receive the
  mail.


**Filing a Mass of Email** -- A welcome addition to Emailer 2.0 is
  its increased flexibility when working with mail folders. You can
  now create sub-folders within folders, and rename them from the
  Folder menu. I currently have 56 mail folders, so being able to
  nest my Article Ideas folder under a main TidBITS folder helps me
  stay organized and reduces visual clutter.

  Each email message includes a pop-up File icon, allowing you to
  file it in a mail folder quickly. A similar button appears on the
  Toolbar. You can also drag & drop a message to its intended
  folder, or (my favorite) press Command-Option-F to bring up a
  dialog listing folders, select the one you want, and press Return.
  One nice touch is if you file a message while it's still open, the
  message window stays onscreen until you close it.


**Prioritizing Actions** -- The most difficult thing about email
  is organizing and categorizing what lands in the In Box. Emailer's
  Priorities and Actions features allows me to at least pretend that
  I have some control over the bulk of mail that arrives every day.

  Mail Actions act as filters for incoming mail, and are, in my
  opinion, invaluable. Emailer 2.0's Actions have been beefed up
  from the previous version, adding more options for examining your
  mail and executing commands based on what it finds. For example,
  I've set up an informal mailing list for eSCENE, an electronic
  magazine I edit in my spare time. Whenever anyone sends me a
  message with "yesmail" as the Subject, Emailer files their message
  in an eSCENE folder I've created, then automatically sends a
  confirmation to the sender. I could also choose to automatically
  add email addresses to my Address Book, forward a message, print a
  message, add or remove a sender from an Address Group, or run a
  designated AppleScript. All without a moment's intervention from
  me.

<http://www.escene.org/>

  I use Actions primarily to prioritize incoming mail. Any message
  can be marked as one of 19 user-defined priorities (Emailer
  reserves the twentieth for alerts) that can be assigned separate
  colors. When I receive a piece of email from Adam, Tonya, or
  Geoff, the message appears in my In Box marked "TidBITS" and
  colored purple. My other clients have separate colors, and some
  items (such as press releases) get filed in designated folders for
  later perusal. By prioritizing the email in my In Box, I can
  respond to it faster and file the messages in folders.

  One notable improvement over version 1.x's automatic filing
  feature is that Emailer 2.0 tracks unread messages that have been
  filed. A small envelope appears on folders that contain unread
  messages, and the folder names appear in bold. From the Mail menu,
  via the Go to New Mail submenu, you can jump directly to folders
  with unread mail.

  Recently, Fog City Software (the original developer of Emailer)
  released a set of Mail Actions that attempt to block unsolicited
  email ("spam") by checking incoming email against a list of
  domains known for sending large amounts of unsolicited email.
  Although unsolicited email is a complex topic (see TidBITS-347_
  for a primer) and I can't vouch for how effective these Mail
  Actions will be, they might be worth a try if you are tired of
  receiving email about how to make a billion dollars without even
  changing out of your pajamas.

<http://www.fogcity.com/em_utilities2.0.html>


**The King of Address Books and Other Features** -- Without a
  doubt, Emailer's Address Book rates as one of its coolest
  features. Not only can you store names and email addresses, but
  searching is a breeze. When you begin typing in the Filter field,
  the list dynamically narrows as it finds strings matching what
  you've typed. In most cases, typing two or three letters narrows
  the search to the name you want.

  Adding names is also a graceful process. Every incoming email
  message includes a plus (+) button next to the From address;
  clicking it creates a new entry, with first name, last name, email
  address, and account filled in. You can also drag & drop an email
  address onto the Address Book window to create a new entry, or
  even drop a text file containing a list of email addresses to
  create a set of new entries at once.

  Other improvements include enhanced AppleScript support and
  integration (including a separate AppleScript menu and sample
  scripts such as Speak Unread Mail), and a spelling checker that,
  ironically, flagged "email" and offered no alternative. Also, a
  fairly comprehensive, context-sensitive online Help system is now
  standard fare.


**Reliable** -- There are still a few things that I'd like to see
  changed: Emailer doesn't support redirected mail like Eudora;
  pressing Command-D in an open message deletes that message unless
  you're viewing an Auto File Log, which you must delete from the
  Browser; and if you add an address to a Group, the address in the
  Group doesn't update if the original address changes. It would be
  nice to be able to select multiple messages in the Browser and
  save them to a single text file. But these are minor details that
  I've largely been able to route around. As someone who relies
  heavily on email, I'm impressed and relieved that I can rely on
  Emailer to handle it.

  Emailer 2.0 requires a 68020-based Macintosh or newer, System 7.1
  or higher, 9 MB disk space, and 2 to 3 MB RAM. Claris gave Emailer
  an "estimated street price" of $49, and - in my checking - the
  street price ranges from $45 to $50. Claris is offering a $10
  rebate on upgrades from 1.x, and to owners of various other Apple
  software. Claris also has a downloadable demo weighing in at about
  4.1 MB.

<ftp://ftp.claris.com/pub/USA-Macintosh/Trial_Software/
ClarisEmailer2.0Trial.bin>


**DealBITS** -- Through the URL below, Cyberian Outpost is
  offering TidBITS readers Claris Emailer 2.0 for $42.95, which is
  $2 off their normal price.

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/emailer.html>



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